New Delhi (NVI): Indian Railways is set to operate 200 non-AC time-tabled trains from June 1 onwards, online bookings for which will begin soon, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
These second class trains will be apart from Shramik special trains being run at present for migrant workers.
“Trains will be non AC. No tickets will be sold at any railway station and prospective travellers should not come to the railway station to buy tickets,” the Rail ministry said in a statement.
While appealing to migrants not to panic, the ministry said, “efforts will be made such that they will be able to board trains from Railway Station Head on main line which is close to their existing location.
Taking to Twitter, Piyush Goyal wrote: “Indian Railways will run 200 non-AC trains on a daily basis from June 1, online bookings for which will begin soon.”
इसके अतिरिक्त भारतीय रेल 1 जून से टाइम टेबल के अनुसार प्रतिदिन 200 नॉन एसी ट्रेन चलायेगा जिसकी ऑनलाइन बुकिंग शीघ्र ही शुरु होगी।
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 19, 2020
“The routes and schedule of these trains will be intimated soon”, the ministry said in a statement.
In another announcement, the Rail Minister said that within the next 2 days, Railways will double the number of Shramik Special Trains to 400 per day. “All migrants are requested to stay where they are, Indian Railways will get them back home over the next few days,” he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, Railways has asked the State Governments to identify and locate those migrants who are walking on roads to go to their home states and transport them to the nearest main line railway station after doing their registration at the nearest district headquarters and give a list of these travellers to the Railway Authorities so that arrangements can be made for their further travel through Shramik specials.
More than 21.5 lac migrants have been transported to their home states through “Shramik Special” trains in 19 days and operated more than 1600 “Shramik Special” trains till 19th May, the ministry said in a statement.
The Rail Minister’s announcement comes a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order saying that proactive coordination is required between States and the Railways Ministry to run more trains for migrant workers.
