Indian Railways ferried nearly 10 lakh passengers in 800 trains since May 1: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways has ferried nearly 10 lakh passengers in as many as 800 trains to their homes since May 1 as part of the Centre’s effort to reach out to thousands of migrant workers stranded in different part of the country due to coronavirus lockdown.

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal shared this on Twitter and said, “Since early May, 800 "shramik" special trains carrying up to 1,200 passengers on each service have operated to help around 10 lakh stranded migrant workers - who lost their means of livelihood in cities during the lockdown - and their families to return to their homes.”

रेलवे कर्मचारियों के अथक परिश्रम से भारतीय रेल 800 श्रमिक स्पेशल ट्रेनों द्वारा अभी तक 10 लाख कामगारों को परिवार सहित घर पहुंचाया है।

मुझे अपने कर्मचारियों पर गर्व है कि इस विश्वव्यापी संकट में भी अपनी जिम्मेदारी निभाते हुए वह नागरिकों की सेवा में पूरी निष्ठा से कार्यरत है। pic.twitter.com/auWFmSMxNu — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 14, 2020

In another tweet, Goyal praised the railways' employees for working with full devotion in the service of the citizens even during a worldwide crisis.

Along with his tweet, the Rail Minister also shared a picture showing several migrant workers, bound for Jodhpur in Rajasthan, waving their hands from the windows of a "shramik (worker)" special train, chugging off from Hubbali railway station in Karnataka.

He tweeted the picture with a caption: “Windows of Hope’’.

रेलवे द्वारा आंशिक रूप से शुरु की गयी ट्रेन सेवाओं का लाभ उठाकर Lock Down में भी लोग अब अपने घर जा पा रहे हैं।

उनकी सुरक्षित और सुविधाजनक यात्रा का इंतजाम रेलवे सभी सावधानियां बरतते हुए कर रहा है, जिसके लिये वह रेलवे का आभार व्यक्त कर रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/L7Q9fECNaJ — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 14, 2020

In one tweet, he shared the picture of a passenger expressing her gratitude to Indian Railways for facilitating her journey home. ''With major emphasis on measures to ensure social distancing and better hygiene for passengers, Railways is committed to making their journey safe & comfortable,'' he tweeted.

रेलवे द्वारा आंशिक रूप से शुरु की गयी ट्रेन सेवाओं का लाभ उठाकर Lock Down में भी लोग अब अपने घर जा पा रहे हैं।

उनकी सुरक्षित और सुविधाजनक यात्रा का इंतजाम रेलवे सभी सावधानियां बरतते हुए कर रहा है, जिसके लिये वह रेलवे का आभार व्यक्त कर रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/L7Q9fECNaJ — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 14, 2020

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had on Wednesday appealed to all states to permit the operation of migrant special trains so that the stranded can reach home in the next three to four days.

The appeal came days after Home Minister Amit Shah wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to allow such trains to run.

The decision came in the wake of thousands of migrant workers resorting to walking home on foot for hundreds of miles, with dozens dying on their journey from exhaustion or accidents.

Rail operations in the country with one of the world's largest train networks gradually restarted operations from Tuesday.

Some 30 train journeys - 15 pairs of return trips - have been planned to run from New Delhi to other cities including Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, the Railways Ministry said late Sunday.

The Railways on Thursday cancelled all tickets for passenger trains, including mail, express and suburban services, for journeys booked up to and including June 30. The cancelled tickets were booked before the lockdown.

The "shramik" trains and special passenger trains are not part of the trains whose tickets have been cancelled.

The train operations were halted in late March due to the nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly contagion, which has infected more than 78,000 people across the country and led to over 3,000 deaths.