With no new demand from govt, Shramik Special trains end run from Delhi

From the five railway stations in Delhi, 242 of these special trains were run in the last one month. Of these, 111 took migrants to Bihar and 101 terminated in Uttar Pradesh.

The operation of Shramik Special trains from Delhi has ended, railway officials said on Wednesday

Indian Railways began running Shramik Special trains from May 1 to ferry back home migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country due to the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

The reason for this, officials said, was that there was no further demand from the Delhi government. They added that the trains will run again in case there is any fresh request, news agency PTI reported.

“There is no demand for Shramik Special trains from the Delhi government as of now. There are no migrant trains scheduled from railway stations in Delhi. However a train from Gurgaon to Odisha’s Balasore is scheduled today,” a railway official was quoted as saying by PTI.

The last trains to operate from Delhi were on May 31. They were : Anand Vihar- Purnia, Anand Vihar- Bhagalpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Mahoba Express.

Indian Railways began running Shramik Special trains from May 1 to ferry back home migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country due to the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

From the five railway stations in Delhi, 242 of these special trains were run in the last one month. Of these, 111 took migrants to Bihar and 101 terminated in Uttar Pradesh.

Over all, around 5.7 million stranded migrants across India have returned to their states in 4,155 such special trains thus far.

However, there has been a decline in the demand to run these trains by the states in recent weeks.

On Sunday, the Railways operated only 69 Shramik trains while on Tuesday only 102 Shramik trains operated till 10 am, railway officials said. “The demand for trains has reduced and only a very few trains are running as mostly all stranded migrants have been sent. The operation may soon be over,”a rail ministry official told HT said on condition of anonymity.