Every train reached its destination, says Goyal

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NEWDELHI: Railway minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday rejected allegations that special trains meant to ferry migrant workers back home were mismanaged and some of them took wrong routes and said every single train reached its desired destination, with only a fraction diverted, and in a five-day period that saw a rush of trains headed for East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to avert congestion.

Several Opposition leaders, including Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have alleged that the trains, labelled “Shramik Specials”, were running late by days. Others have alleged that a large number of trains was diverted. 4

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Charges like ‘kahin se nikle, kahin chale gaye’ (they left from somewhere and went off somewhere else), all that is nonsense. Every train reached the destination, only took a slightly longer route to ease the congestion...

PIYUSH GOYAL, Railway minister

The railway minister said the allegations on widespread delays and diversions were “completely baseless and wrong”. “Almost all trains up to May 19 were before time... (So far) only 71 out of 4,040, which is 1.75% trains, were diverted. Charges like ‘kahin se nikle, kahin chale gaye’ (they left from somewhere and went off somewhere else), all that is nonsense. Every train reached the destination, only took a slightly longer route to ease the congestion and keep the flow of trains running. Otherwise, I would have to stop the operation,” Goyal told Hindustan Times in an interview. It was only between May 20 and May 25 that a rush caused a congestion and resulted in diversions and delays, he added. And no train has taken seven or nine days to reach its destination as is being claimed, the minister said.