Providing huge relief to people, especially in the country's small towns and cities, the railways will run 200 special passenger trains from June 1, the national transporter said on Tuesday.
Seven of these trains will depart from Kerala, officials informed. The trains being considered are:
• Ernakulam-Nizamuddin Mangala Express
• Ernakulam-Nizamuddin Duranto Express
• Thiruvananthapuram-New Delhi Kerala Express
• Thiruvananthapuram-Lokmanya Tilak Netravathi Express
• Alleppey-Dhanbad Express,
• Thiruvananthapuram-Kozhikode Janashatabdi,
• Thiruvananthapuram-Kannur Janashatabdi.
The booking is only available through the IRCTC website and the mobile app. Booking is expected to begin on Thursday.
These trains will have non-air conditioned second class sleeper coaches and will run daily.
"The fare of these trains will be minimal sleeper rates and can be availed by all categories of people," a railway official said.
Earlier, the railways had cancelled all its regular passenger services till June 30.
Railways said the move to start these 200 trains would also be helpful for migrants who can avail these trains if they are unable to board the Shramik Special trains.
"Efforts will be made such that they (migrants) will be able to board trains from Railway Station Head on mainline which is close to their existing location," the railways said.
The national transporter which on Tuesday said that it will no longer need the consent of the destination states to run the Shramik Special trains also appealed to migrant workers to not panic and assured them that they will be sent home "at the earliest" by doubling the number of trains being run for them to 200.
The railways also said it has asked the state governments to locate and identify the migrants walking on roads to go to their home states and transport them to the nearest mainline railway station after registering them at the nearest district headquarters.
It has also asked the states to give a list of these travellers to the Railway Authorities so that arrangements can be made for their further travel through Shramik Specials.
"Within the next two days, Indian Railways will double the number of Shramik Special Trains to 400 per day. All migrants are requested to stay where they are, Indian Railways will get them back home over the next few days, said Goyal.
So far, more than 21.5 lakh migrant workers have been transported to their home states through 'Shramik Special' trains.
(With inputs from PTI)
