It was a day of many firsts for South Western Railway (SWR). Apart from a special train to Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, ‘Shramik’ special trains left the city for the first time for West Bengal, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh on Sunday.
After the government changed its stand on cancelling train services to other States, trains have been leaving Bengaluru for various destinations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and other parts of the country. But no trains had left for West Bengal until Sunday as the State government had not received clearance from its counterpart there.
For many days, migrant workers from West Bengal were anxiously waiting to return to their hometowns. The train left for Bankura (West Bengal) from Malur with 1,247 passengers, including 47 children.
Not all the passengers were labourers. A woman who was on board the train to Bankura with her child said, “I came to Bengaluru for medical treatment. Because of the lockdown, I was stuck here all these days. Now I am happy to be going back home.”
Services to Danapur (Bihar) and Uttar Pradesh were also operated on Sunday. In all, 7,400 people left the city. Chief PRO of SWR E. Vijaya said, “In addition to West Bengal, the SWR also operated a Shramik train for the first time to Agartala and Gwalior. Schedules were fixed based on the requirements given by the Karnataka government.”
