1st special train starts journey from Telangana to ferry stranded migrants to Jharkhand

May 01: A special train to ferry stranded migrant labourers was deployed by the ministry of railways on Friday. The train carried around 1,200 people from Telangana to Jharkhand in 22 coaches. All passengers were also screened for symptoms before being allowed to board. The 24-coach train, which usually seats 72 people in a compartment, contained only 54 people in each in accordance with social distancing guidelines. The train left from Lingampalli in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand at 4:50 AM on Friday.

The Telangana-Jharkhand train was started as a pilot project and any further trains shall be planned only as per the directions of Ministry of Railways and on request from both the originating & destination state governments. There were 54 labourers per coach and they were given sanitisers, masks and gloves. Food and water was arranged for the people and RPF personnel were on board to ensure rules were adhered to.