The Indian Railways has issued new guidelines for running shramik special trains for migrant workers which will now run with a full capacity of 1,700 passengers instead of the current 1,200. This was informed by the railways on Monday.

As per the latest order of the Railways on specialtrains for migrants, the railway zones have also been asked to provide threestoppages in the destination state other than the final stop.

A senior railway officer while quoted by the news agencyPTI said that the Railways has a capacity to run 300 trains per day and thatthey want to maximize it. "We want to carry as many migrants as possible tohome over the next few days and have appealed to states to send approvals,"said the officer.

The Railways said the train capacity should be equalto the number of sleeper berths on the train.

The Shramik Special trains have 24 coaches with acapacity to carry 72 passengers in each coach. Currently, these trains arerunning with 54 passengers in each coach due to social distancing and otherlockdown norms.

So far, the Indian Railways has ferried over 5 lakhpassengers since May 1.