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 06th June, 2020, a total of 14 Shramik Special trains carrying 20653 passengers (4341 passengers from Tamilnadu and 16312 from Kerala) were operated by Southern Railway and that includes 3 trains from Tamil Nadu and 11 trains from Kerala. Of the 3 trains from Tamilnadu, 1 train from Coimbatore left for Balasore (Odisha), 1 train from Karur departed for New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), 1 train from Mettupalayam departed for New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal).
Of the 11 trains from Kerala, 2 trains from Palakkad: left for New Cooch Behar (West Bengal) and New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), two from Kottayam: left for Howrah (West Bengal) and Nergundi (Odisha), One from Trivandrum to Malda Town (West Bengal) ,one from Tirur to Berhampore Court (West Bengal), two from Aluva: to Malda Town and Guwahati (Assam), one from Alleppey to New Cooch Behar, one from Tiruvala to Malda Town and one from Kozhikode to New Cooch Behar.Southern Railway transported over 5,49,248 lakh stranded persons in Shramik Special trains since this Mission “ Back Home” started in May 1, 2020.
As on 6th June, 2020, a total of 404 Shramik Special trains have been operated from major stations across Southern Railway to various States across India. 238 Shramik Special trains originated from Tamil Nadu, 143 trains originated from Kerala , 20 trains from Karnataka and 3 trains from Puducherry were run from 1st to 6th of May, 2020.The railway stations from where maximum trains originated are Dr MGR Chennai Central (63)and Chennai Egmore (13) Coimbatore(36), Tiruppur (29), Mangalore Junction (20) and Tiruvallur (17). 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 (112), West Bengal (80), Uttar Pradesh (65), Jharkhand (48), Odisha (47) and Assam (13).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 passengers in the Shramik Special. The guidelines and directives issued by the 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.
