3,736 Shramik Special trains ferried more than 50 lakh migrants since May 1

 The Indian Railways has ferried over 50 lakh migrant workers on board 3,736 'Shramik Special' trains since May 1, according to official data.Of these, 3,157 have already reached their destination.

The top five states and Union Territories from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat (979), Maharashtra (695), Punjab (397), Uttar Pradesh (263) and Bihar (263).

These Shramik Special Trains were terminated in various states across the country.

The top five states where maximum trains terminated their journey are Uttar Pradesh (1520), Bihar (1296), Jharkhand (167), Madhya Pradesh (121), Odisha (139).

"I am very happy to say that during this coronavirus pandemic, the railways' Shramik Special trains have ferried more than 50 lakh workers to their home state in a convenient and safe manner.

"Along with this, railways has also provided 84 lakh meals and 1.24 crore water bottles to them as well," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.

This includes meals being prepared by Indian Railways' PSU IRCTC and distributed by Zonal Railways. Food and water bottles are being provided to travelling migrants in all Shramik Special trains, the railways said.

"IRCTC is providing puri-vegetable-pickle,roti-vegetable-pickle, banana, biscuits, cake, namkeen, veg pulao, pao bhaji, lemon rice-pickle, upma, poha pickle etc. kind of meals to travelling migrants along with Rail Neer water bottles," the railways said.

Responding to criticism over route diversions leading to long delays in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh-bound trains, the railways said all Shramik special trains which have commenced their journey on or before May 24 have reached their destination.

On May 25, out of 223 trains that originated, 219 have reached their destination and all four remaining are running towards their destination in the northeast.

Out of these two are running towards Jiribam (Manipur), one each to Bhairavi (Mizoram) and Agartala ( Tripura). Except one, others will reach by 10 pm on Thursday.

"The detention of these four trains happened due to landslide in Lumding Guwahati section from yesterday (May 27) 20:35 to 11:35 today and slow piloting of trains," the railways said.

For May 26, as many as 255 trains started their journey and 235 of them have reached their destination. Twenty trains are likely to reach their destination in due course. The railways also said that on May 27, 172 trains had started their journey.