Special Trains For Migrants, Students, 5 More From Kerala Today | Read

Six "shramik (worker) special" trains, carrying migrants, students and others stranded by the coronavirus lockdown, departed from Kerala, Telangana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan on Friday. The trains, bound for Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, were organised on request from the respective states, Railways said in a statement. More such trains will be run in the coming days, after the government permitted travel of stranded migrants, providing they do not display COVID-19 symptoms. In its order the government initially only allowed travel only by road, but states pointed to challenges in transporting lakhs of people across hundreds of kilometres in buses, particularly with social distancing a concern. As a result, "special" trains were allowed, with strict rules to be followed regarding disinfection of coaches, screening of passengers and maintaining social distance during travel.