Surge in east-bound migrant special trains leading to network congestion, diversions: Railways

With a surge in demand for migrant special trains to Uttar Presh and Bihar, Railways is struggling to maintain operating schedule of its Shramik Special trains leing to major diversions -- and complaints from travelling workers.

Railways has operated over 2,810 Shramik Special trains since May 1, carrying over 37 lakh passengers, 80 per cent of whom were bound for Uttar Presh and Bihar, leing to major congestion on routes, Railways said. While 1,301 of se trains were bound for Uttar Presh, 973 terminated in Bihar.

"Most of destinations in UP are around Luckw-Gorakhpur sector. In Bihar, it's around Patna. Of 565 trains that began ir journeys yesterday, 266 were going to Bihar and 172 to Uttar Presh.

¨Convergence of trains to se destinations caused congestion on network. Furr, increased time taken in de-boarding of passengers due to various health and social distancing protocols at stations is leing to congestion at terminals which furr affects network congestion," Railways said in a statement. statement came after reports that a migrant special train which was to reach Bareilly in Uttar Presh reached Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

On Saturday, a Shramik Special train from Mumbai which was to reach Gorakhpur, on Friday evening after a 24-hour journey, was rerouted via Odisha, ding two days and five states to original journey. Officials said that routes were so congested that it was difficult to operate trains on m and routes in eastern Uttar Presh like Goraphpur-Gonda-Luckw were completely saturated.

"To ease congestion, a few trains were diverted via Mathura, Jharsuguda. Furr, route rationalisation order has been issued to avoid congestion on routes with heavy traffic. Round clock monitoring at Railway Board level, zonal railway level and divisional level is being done to ensure that trains are t delayed.

" train running staff have also been sensitised to ensure punctual running of Shramik Special trains. With se efforts, congestion position has eased considerably and mobility of trains has drastically improved," Railways said.

To d to misery of migrant labourers, due to network congestion, trains got delayed affecting meal distribution schedule. leing to thousands of passengers going hungry and thirsty. re were reports from many railway stations about protests by passengers over meals were being provided.

" IRCTC and Railways have mobilized resources to ensure regular supply of meals and water to Shramik trains and minimize inconvenience to passengers,” Railways said.

(Photo Credit: PTI)