Railways to run 200 Non-AC trains daily from June 1; Online booking to start soon

New Delhi, May 19: Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the Indian Railways will run 200 non-AC trains on a daily basis as per the timetable from June 1, whose online booking will start soon.

Goyal said that in relief for migrant workers stranded across the country, 200 special trains will be run and this number will later increase.

In great relief for migrant workers, about 200 labourers special trains will be able to run today, and later these numbers will be increased on a large scale.

The Railways said the move to start these 200 trains would be helpful for migrants who can avail these trains if they are unable to board the Shramik Special ones.

"Efforts will be made such that they (migrants) will be able to board trains from the railway station head on mainline which is close to their existing location," the railways said.

The national transporter, which on Tuesday said it will no longer need the consent of the destination states to run the Shramik Special trains, also appealed to migrant workers to not panic and assured them they will be sent home "at the earliest" by doubling the number of trains being run for them to 200.

The railways also said it has asked state governments to locate and identify the migrants walking on roads to go to their home states and transport them to the nearest main line railway station after registering them at the nearest district headquarters.

It has also asked the states to give a list of these travellers to railway authorities so arrangements can be made for their further travel through Shramik Specials.

"Within the next two days, Indian 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," Goyal said in another tweet.

The railways has operated 1,595 'Shramik Special' trains since May 1 and ferried over 21 lakh migrants back home, the national transporter said. While Uttar Pradesh has allowed 837 trains, Bihar has permitted 428 and Madhya Pradesh more than 100.