Collected Rs 430 crore as fare from state govts for Shramik trains: Govt

An amount of Rs 433 crore has been collected as fare from state governments for operating 4,621 Shramik Special trains since May 1, the Ministry of Railways informed Parliament

An amount of Rs 433 crore has been collected as fare from state governments and their representatives for operating 4,621 Shramik Special trains since May 1, the Ministry of Railways informed Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in all, 4,621 Shramik Special trains have been operated between May 1 and August 31 carrying 63.19 lakh passengers to their home states.

Earlier, the Railways had maintained that while states paid only 15 percent of the cost of running these trains, 85 percent of the cost was being borne by the national transporter.

"Railways have collected fare for Shramik Special trains from State Governments or their authorised representatives. Railways did not collect any fare directly from passengers," Goyal said.

"Fare of Rs 433 crore has been collected from State Governments and from the representatives of State Governments for running of Shramik Special trains for the period from 01.05.2020 to 31.08.2020. Indian Railways could recover a small fraction of expenditure incurred on running of Shramik Special trains, thereby incurring a loss in the operation of these trains," he said.

While replying to another query on the Shramik Special trains, Goyal said the Indian Railways supplied a total of 1.96 crore meals and 2.19 crore packaged drinking water bottles to the passengers of Shramik Special trains during the journeys.

Further, an estimated number of 46.2 lakh meals and water bottles each have been provided by the State Governments to them at the time of commencement of their journeys in the special trains.