Shramik trains were started at the request of states who wanted to send back migrants to their hometowns
The Indian Railways has ferried over 48 lakh migrant workers on board 3,604 Shramik Special trains since May 1, official data showed.
Of the total trains, 3,157 have already reached their destination while 386 are in transit.
The top five states from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat (946), Maharashtra (677), Punjab (377), Uttar Pradesh (243) and Bihar (215).
On May 1, the Indian Railways started the migrant special trains to facilitate the movement of such workers back to their home states.
The top five states which received the maximum number of trains are Uttar Pradesh (1,392), Bihar (1,123), Jharkhand (156), Madhya Pradesh (119) and Odisha (123).
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has distributed over 78 lakh free meals and more than 1.1 crore water bottles to the travelling migrants.
The Shramik Special trains are being operated primarily on the request of states, which want to send migrant workers stranded due to the lockdown, to their native places.
While the Indian Railways is bearing 85 per cent of the total cost of running each train, the rest is being borne by states.
Nearly 80 per cent of Shramik Special trains ferried stranded migrants to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Railways said.
"Most of the destinations in Uttar Pradesh are around Lucknow and Gorakhpur, and in Bihar around Patna. Convergence of trains to these destinations caused some congestion in a particular section of the network," the railways said.