‘Runaway’ trains haunt migrant workers

‘Runaway’ trains haunt migrant workers

Viral video shows train from Vasai to Gorakhpur taking three days; Railways blame choked network

29/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Basic need: Scouts provide drinking water to migrant workers at Prayagraj station. PTI

Amid severe criticism over the running of Shramik Special trains, another video went viral on Thursday, with travellers complaining about their train taking a longer route without prior intimation. The Railways, however, called the video “misleading”.

In the video, the passengers travelling from Vasai, Maharashtra, to Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, alleged that it was their third day of travel, with the rain traversing several States, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jhakharkhad. They also complained of lack of food and water.

The spokesperson of Western Railways said the Sharmik Special mentioned in the video started its journey on May 21 and completed it on May 24.

The train was diverted because of network congestion on the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar route.

Replying to the video post on Twitter, Western Railways said, “It is stated that as 80% Shramik Special trains were headed to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Jabalpur-Satna-Manikpur route got congested, owing to which some trains were run on diverted routes for two days only. Now there is no congestion and trains are running on this route. Hence, it is misleading.”

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the Ministry of Railways said over 3,500 Shramik Special trains had so far been operated, and they had carried more than 48 lakh passengers. Nearly 80% of these trains were bound for various destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

“Most of the destinations in Uttar Pradesh are around Lucknow and Gorakhpur and in Bihar around Patna. Convergence of trains on these destinations caused some congestion in a particular section of the network,” it said.

In a separate release, the Railways said that since May 1, it had operationalised 3,736 Shramik Special trains, transporting 50 lakh migrant workers, and about 67 trains were in the pipeline.

After complaints of passengers suffering for lack of food and water, the Railways said it had distributed over 85 lakh free meals and 1.25 crore free water bottles to migrants since May 1.