Railways ferries over 3 mn passengers, including migrant workers, in 1 week

Average occupancy was high

With the number of new Covid cases dropping significantly in the last few days and several states announcing unlock measures, the Indian Railways is helping to bring workers to their respective workplaces from different parts of the country, ferrying over 32 lakh people in the last seven days.

A Railway Ministry spokesperson said that from June 11 to June 17, the national transporter ferried approximately 32.56 lakh passengers, including migrant workers and other passengers travelling by long distance trains, with an average occupancy of 110.2 per cent from areas like Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha to various destinations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, and Chennai, among others.

The official said that to facilitate the movement of the migrant workers from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha to Metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, the Railways is operating mail and express specials, holiday specials and summer special trains.

The official said that all these trains are being operated as fully reserved trains, keeping in view the Covid protocols.

He said that as on June 18, 983 mail, express and holiday specials, which is 56 per cent of the pre-Covid levels, are being operated by the Indian Railways.

In addition, about 1,309 summer special trains have also been operated to facilitate the movement of people wanting to return to their workplaces, he added.

The official pointed out that these summer special trains provide connectivity primarily from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam to major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru etc.

He also said that from June 19 to June 28, approximately 29.15 lakh passengers, including migrant workers and others, have booked tickets in long-distance mail/express trains.

--IANS

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