Western Railway Runs 1,162 Shramik Special Trains, transporting 17.4 lakh passengers back home.
Western Railway has successfully run 1162 Shramik Special trains till 28th May 2020, across the country resulting in around 17.42 lakh migrant labourers and their families reaching their home states.
673 trains were bound to Uttar Pradesh, 269 to Bihar, 86 to Orissa, 31 to Madhya Pradesh, 41 to Jharkhand, 16 to Chhattisgarh, 8 to Rajasthan, 6 to Uttarakhand & 15 to West Bengal states.
Shramik trains were also bound to states of Gujarat, Manipur, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Assam and Maharashtra.
A total of about 17.42 lakh passengers have been ferried to their homes in different states of the country from 2ndMay, 2020 to 28th May, 2020.
On 28th May, 2020, 34 Shramik Special trains were bound to states of Uttar Pradesh (15 trains), Bihar (5 trains), , Orissa (7 trains), West Bengal (4 trains) and one each for Jharkhand, Gujarat and Assam.
Out of these, Mumbai Division handled 29 trains, including 12 trains which were run from Mumbai Suburban section of Western Railway. Six trains were run from Borivali station and three trains each from Bandra Terminus and Vasai Road stations.
From 3rd May to 28th May, 2020, a total of 158 Shramik Special Trains have originated from Mumbai Suburban Section including 61 Shramik special trains from Bandra Terminus, 57 from Borivali, 26 from Vasai Rd, 2 from Dahanu Rd and 12 from Palghar station.
These trains were bound to Gorakhpur, Jaunpur , Gonda , Varanasi, Pratapgarh, Bhagalpur, Prayagraj, Darbhanga, Danapur, Howrah etc. These special trains were operated with maintaining social distancing norms. Under the guidelines of Ministry of Home Affairs, proper thermal screening of passengers have been ensured before boarding the train.
During the journey, passengers are also being given free meals and packaged drinking water.
In order to protect the vulnerable persons from COVID-19, in line with Ministry of Home Affairs, Order No 40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated 17.05.2020, Ministry of Railways has also made an appeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example – hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency conditions), pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and persons above 65 years of age should avoid travel by rail, except when it is essential.
Western Railway Distributes Meals to Six Lakh People
Upto 29th May 2020, almost 6 lakh persons were fed by providing free meals. The meals were being distributed over all the six divisions of WR by WR’s commercial department, RPF, IRCTC, Catering contractors, Charitable Trusts and NGOs. On 29th May 2020 almost 750 meals comprising of lunch and dinner has been distributed on WR.
Food packets & packaged drinking water bottles have also been distributed to about 17.42 lakh passengers of shramik special trains departed from various stations of Western Rly.
Western Railway Freight Loading Update
Shri Bhakar stated that since 22nd March to 28th May, 2020, total 4880 rakes of goods trains have been used to supply essential commodities amounting to 9.97 million tonnes. 9613 freight trains were interchanged with other railways, including 4829 trains handed over and 4784 trains taken over at different interchange points.
287 Millennium Parcel rakes of Parcel Vans / Railway Milk Tankers (RMTs) have been sent to different parts of the country to cope with the demands of essential materials such as milk powder, liquid milk, medical supplies and other general consumer goods.
It’s worth mentioning, that since 23rd March to 28th May 2020, commodities weighing approx 44 thousand tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 286 parcel special trains, which included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc.
The earnings generated through this transportation, has been approx Rs 13.63 crore. Under this transportation, thirty four milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of more than 25 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of approx Rs 4.31 crore.
Similarly, 248 Covid-19 parcel special trains were also run to transport essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was more than Rs 8.55 crore. In addition to this, 4 indented rakes were also run with 100% utilization for earnings of approximately Rs. 78 lakh.
Shri Bhakar informed that five parcel special trains left from WR for various parts of the country, including a milk rake on 29th May, 2020 viz Bandra Terminus – Okha, Okha – Bandra Terminus, Palanpur – Salchapra and Karambeli – New Guwahati special trains. One milk rake left from Palanpur for Hind Terminal.
Western Railway Ticket Cancellation Refunds Update
He stated that the total loss of earnings over Western Railway inclusive of suburban & non – suburban sections, since March, 2020, has been Rs 1076.35 crore on account of lockdown. Inspite of this, resulting to the cancellation of tickets till now, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount of Rs 289.08 crore.
It’s worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund of Rs 137.69 crore. Till now, 44.29 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.
