The South Western Railway (SWR) zone operated nine special trains to ferry 13,381 migrants back home to five north Indian states, an official said on Monday. "Monday's first Shramik special train left from Hubli to Basti in Uttar Pradesh (UP) at 12.10 p.m. with 1,443 passengers," said an SWR zone spokesperson.
The second special train left Malur station on the outskirts of Bengaluru to Madhubani in Bihar at 2.50 p.m. with 1,520 passengers. "Monday's third Shramik special of SWR left Chikka Bannavara station at 4.42 p.m. with 1,500 passengers bound for Azamgarh in UP," said the official.
The fourth special train departed from Malur at 4.50 p.m. with 1,450 migrants to Madhubani. SWR's fifth special train on Monday to Guwahati in Assam departed at 4.45 p.m. with 1,507 migrants.
The sixth train departed from Chikka Bannavara at 6.30 p.m. with 1,507 passengers to Basti in UP. Similarly, the seventh special train departed from Malur at 6.30 p.m. with 1,520 migrants to Jasidiah in Jharkhand.
The eighth special train left Bengaluru Cantonment station at 7.55 p.m. with 1,515 migrants to Howrah in West Bengal.
Monday's last and ninth special train departed Bengaluru Cantonment at 10.20 p.m. with 1,419 migrants to Guwahati. Hitherto, this was SWR zone's 85th Sharmik special train.
The special trains are being run following the Ministry of Home Affairs' permission for the movement of stranded migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists and others.
