In a modification in the guidelines on the movement of stranded persons by ‘Shramik Special’ trains, the Railways on Monday informed that the trains will now have up to three stops at the destination state.

It further said that the ‘Shramik Special’ trains will now run with full capacity, ie, equal to the number of sleeper berths.

The ‘Shramik Special’ trains have 24 coaches with a capacity to carry 72 passengers in each coach. Currently, these trains are running with 54 passengers in each coach due to social distancing norms.

In view of the development, the ‘Shramik Special’ trains will now carry around 1,700 passengers instead of the current 1,200.

“The Railways has a capacity to run 300 trains per day and we want to maximise it. We want to carry as many migrants home as possible over the next few days and have appealed to states to send approvals,” a senior official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

As on May 11, a total of 468 ‘Shramik Special’ trains have operationalised from various states, in which 363 trains had reached its destination and 105 trains are in transit.

Earlier in the day, the Centre had directed states to cooperate with the Ministry of Railways in running more special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places.

Noting the situation of migrants walking back home on roads and railway tracks with “great concern”, the Government has asked states to counsel the migrants against travelling on foot back to their homes.

In the instance of finding labourers walking on foot, they should be taken to nearby shelters and provided with food and water till the time they are facilitated to board the ‘Shramik Special’ trains or buses to their native places, the Government notification read.

Indian Railways started running the ‘Shramik Special’ trains for transporting stranded workers on May 1, almost 40 days after the passenger, mail and express trains were suspended. These trains are being operated on the request of state governments.

The first Shramik Special train with 1,200 migrants left Telangana for Jharkhand on May 1.

Lakhs of migrant workers, students and others had been left stranded – without jobs, money, food or shelter – in states far from their own after the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25.

Following requests from various states, the Central government on April 29 announced allowing the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places, by special trains.

Meanwhile, the Indian Railways on Sunday announced to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12 initially with 15 pairs of trains. The booking for reservation in these Indian Railways special trains will start at 4 pm today and will be available only on the IRCTC website.

These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi Station connecting 15 important cities of the country.

Passenger services, suspended since the lockdown began March 25, will start with 15 “special” trains (total of 30 journeys) departing from Delhi and connecting cities in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Tripura.