‘More trains soon, bookings at railway counters in 2-3 days’: Piyush Goyal

Till Wednesday, the railway minister added, 279 Shramik trains were run taking five lakh migrant labourers, students and stranded tourists to their homes.

There will be resumption of more trains soon, announced railway minister Piyush Goyal, stressing that it is time to take the country towards normalcy after weeks of lockdown due to coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the railways announced that it would run 200 new trains from June 1. These trains would be in addition to the Shramik Special trains, whose numbers too would be increased. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

“Will announce resumption of more trains. It is time to take India towards normalcy,” Piyush Goyal was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

In a related development, he said bookings can soon be done at the ticket counters of railway stations.

“Bookings also to resume at ticket counters of stations in next two-three days. We are conducting studies, developing protocol,” said the minister.

The railway minister praised Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani for their cooperation with the railways in running the Shramik Special trains and criticised West Bengal and Jharkhand for their non-cooperation.

Till Wednesday, the minister added, 279 Shramik trains were run taking five lakh migrant labourers, students and stranded tourists to their homes.

Goyal said only 27 trains have been able to reach West Bengal, while till May 8 or 9, only 2 trains could reach there.

On Tuesday, the railways announced that it would run 200 new trains from June 1. These trains would be in addition to the Shramik Special trains, whose numbers too would be increased.

This is the second slew of special passenger services that marked the Railways’ graded restoration of its trains which were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.