Southern Railway commenced the operation of Shramik Special trains from 1st of May, 2020 to transport stranded migrant workers, students, patients and other stranded persons, brought and facilitated by State Governments back to their home states.
On 29th May, 2020, a total of 13 Shramik Special trains carrying 20268 passengers (11290 passengers from Tamilnadu and 8978 from Kerala) were operated by Southern Railway and that includes 7 trains from Tamil Nadu and 6 trains from Kerala.
Of the 7 trains from Tamilnadu, 2 trains from Coimbatore: left for Darbhanga (Bihar) and Malda Town (West Bengal), 2 trains from Chengalpattu: departed for Malda Town (West Bengal) and Muzaffarpur (Bihar), 2 trains from Chennai Egmore: departed for Madhubani (Bihar)and Jahanabad court (West Bengal)and one from Tiruppur to Hajipur (Bihar).
Of the 6 trains from Kerala, 2 trains from Tirur: left for Jasidih (Jharkhand) and New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), one from Kottayam to Berhampore Court (West Bengal), One from Trivandrum to Bettiah (Bihar), one from Ernakulam to New Cooch Behar (West Bengal) and one from Kannur to Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
Southern Railway transported over 3,56,014 lakh stranded persons in the last 29 days in Shramik Special trains. As on 29th May 2020, a total of 271 Shramik Special trains have been operated from major destinations across Southern Railway to various States Pan-India.
184 Shramik Special trains originated from Tamil Nadu, 68 trains originated from Kerala, 17 trains from Karnataka and 2 trains from Puducherry were run from 1st to 29th of May, 2020.
The railway stations from where maximum trains originated are Dr MGR Chennai Central (51)and Chennai Egmore (12) Coimbatore(33), Tiruppur (16), Mangalore Junction (17) and Tiruvallur (16). Shramik Special trains run had terminated in various states across the country.
The top five states where maximum trains from Southern Railway terminated are Bihar (80), Uttar Pradesh (53), Jharkhand (42), Odisha (26) and West Bengal (28).
Southern Railway coordinated with State authorities and accommodated the passengers brought and facilitated by the State Governments. Arrangements for food and water bottles were made for the benefit of passenger in the Shramik Special.
The guidelines and directives issued by Home Ministry, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that includes social distancing norms were enforced at railway stations. A dedicated team of frontline staff including RPF, Ticket Checking Staff and Supervisors were deployed at railway stations to assist passengers in thermal screening, social distancing and for distributing food and water bottles to passengers.
Special care was taken to ensure a comfortable and safe journey for passengers of Shramik trains.
