New Delhi : Despite of rising inflation and some serious issues before the budget in the election year, the Central Government is going to announce some exciting projects for the Migrants and Labour Class passengers. At the time of Covid-19, the migrant labour & working Class who were more sufferer and was serious issue for the central government and the state governments. Now, after a deep study, Railway Board is going to provide a special train facility for those migrant labour and Working Class Passengers throughout the year. From January 2024, the Railway Board is planning to introduce Non-AC, general category trains to cater to the needs of migrant workers and labour class groups across the country.
According to the Railway Board, new Migrant Special trains are being planned for the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh. According to officials, “Most of the skilled-unskilled workers, Migrant laborers and other people from these states go to metros and big cities for work, trains will be run for these people, which will have only sleeper-general class coaches”. An official said that the migrant special trains will have a minimum of 22 to a maximum of 26 coaches.
During the coronavirus crisis, the Railways had run migrant special trains to return workers to their native places. Now this migrant special train will be run permanently throughout the year instead of seasonal, for which passengers will be able to make reservations in advance. However, the Railways has not yet decided any name for these trains.
Officials said that Indian Railways will have to prepare only two types of coaches LHB coach and Vande Bharat coach which will be in this service. An official said that at present 28 types of such coaches are in service, this will reduce the cost of repairs and travel will also be cheaper. A Railway Board official said, “The decision has been taken after a study that identified states where a large number of passengers belonging to low income groups faces long waiting times. Earlier, such special trains were started only during festivals or peak season”. Due to overcrowding in many major stations in passenger trains, there have been many accidents which had become a matter of concern for the Ministry of Railways. Now the Railways has taken a proposal to make such arrangement permanent for the migrant labour and labour class passengers.
