New Delhi: With Coronavirus reaching alarming proportions, ‘journey for hometown’ has begun with many daily wagers heading to their native place. This in turned has created rush at many railway stations.

To address this extra demand, Indian Railways is set to add bunch of special trains for next 1-2 months.

The Railways will run 140 trains to clear the extra rush till May, officials said.

1st passenger train ran today, 168 years ago

Addressing a press conference, Suneet Sharma, CEO and Chairman of the Railway Board said, “A very special day for Indian Railways as you are aware that today the first train ran from VT to Thane, a distance of 34 km on April 16, 1853. Since that day railways have come miles forward.”

On 16th April,1853, the 1st passenger train was flagged from Mumbai to Thane.
Indian Railways continues to serve the Nation for last 168 years & is committed to serve the growing needs of a New India.

Heartfelt gratitude to all passengers & Railway staff for their support. pic.twitter.com/Uuxut9nyav

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) April 16, 2021

He said currently railways is operating 1,490 special trains, 5,397 suburban train services.

“We are also running 28 clone trains on highly patronised trains, 947 passenger trains,” he said, adding that 70 per cent of the train services have been restored.

UP, Bihar, Bengal are high-demand destinations

“To clear extra rush across the country, the railways is operating 140 additional trains,” the Chairman said.

He said that 140 special trains will make 483 trips between April and May.

Citing the figures of the additional trains operating in several states, he said the Central Railway is operating 85 such services which will complete 284 trips, the Western Railway is operating 28 trains for 152 trips, the Northern Railway is operating 15 special trains for 19 trips, East Central Railway is operating two special trains for four trips, the North Eastern Railway is operating nine trains for 14 trips and the North Central Railway is operating one train for 10 trips.

Sharma also said trains for high-demand destinations such as Uttar Pradesh”s Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Manduadih, Prayagraj, Bihar”s Patna, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Barauni, Jharkhand”s Bokaro, Ranchi, Assam”s Guwahati and West Bengal”s Kolkata are also being operated.