Average fare on Shramik trains Rs 600, says Rlys; generated Rs 360 cr revenue

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways on Monday said the average fare per person on Shramik Special trains was Rs 600 and indicated that by carrying 60 lakh migrant workers home since May 1, it has generated a revenue of around Rs 360 crore. The transporter has run 4,450 Shramik trains so far, Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said.

"The average fare of Shramik Special trains is Rs 600 per passenger. One has to keep in mind that these are normal fares of mail, express trains and not fares for special trains which are higher. We carried 60 lakh passengers, so the revenue can be calculated. We however, managed to recover only 15 percent of cost of operations, 85 per cent of the cost is being borne by the centre," said Yadav. Officials said the cost of operating a migrant special was between Rs 75-80 lakh.

Yadav also said that most migrant workers have returned to their destinations and very few are left to be transported. "We had asked state governments to send us their demand of remaining trains on June 3 and we received a demand for 171 Shramik Special trains from various states.

We ended up running 222 Shramik Special trains till June 14. After the Supreme Court's order we have again sought their need from the state governments to meet the additional demand. I have again written to the states on June 14 to provide more of their demands. We will keep running the trains till there is demand for them, Yadav said. Yadav reiterated that the cost of operating these trains is being shared by the Centre and the states in a 85-15 per cent formula respectively.

The tickets for Shramik Special trains had kicked up a storm soon after the trains started operations with many political parties alleging that the Railways was charging migrants for the journeys. Denying the charges, the central government said the Railways was charging only 15 percent of the cost of operations in the form of fares from the originating state government and 85 per cent of the cost was being borne by the national transporter.