Ernakulam, May 1: A special train with 1,140 passengers onboard will run from Kerala's Aluva to Odisha's Bhubaneswar amid the nationwide lockdown on Friday. The train journey is being facilitated by the Indian Railways based on the request of both the governments. The migrants who are being sent back today are reportedly the stranded labourers from Alappuzha district. Only those migrants selected by the government would be allowed to board the train. First Train Ran Amid Lockdown Today From Telangana's Lingampalli to Jharkhand's Hatia to Bring Back Migrants; Watch Video.

"Yesterday, we got information that railways will be prime mode of transport for taking migrants back to their states. A train is starting from Aluva to Bhubaneswar today, with capacity of 1140 passengers," Dr Rajesh Chandran, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Southern Railways, Trivandrum, said.

The train, as per reports, will depart at around 6:00 pm today from Kochi. The government has finalised the the first set of migrants from Odisha who would be sent back to their home state. Only the selected migrants are eligible for the special commutation facility arranged today. The Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha is expected to send the migrants into quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival to the state.

Breaking: Kochi-Bhubaneswar Special Train to Run Today

Southern Railway Confirms Running of Kochi-Bhubaneswar Train Today

Earlier today, the first train amid lockdown plied from Lingampalli, close to Hyderabad, in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand. The train was ferrying back migrant workers stranded in the state since the imposition of nationwide shutdown. With economic activities closed, the cash-starved migrants were in a desperate bid to return to their native state.

"Special train was run today from Lingampalli (Hyderabad) to Hatia (Jharkhand)on request of Telangana government  and as per directions of Railway Ministry. Any other train to be planned as per directions of Ministry of Railways and on request from originating and destination states," a Railway official said earlier today.

The train services were suspended from March 22, two days before the imposition of a nationwide lockdown by Prime MInister Narendra Modi. Since them, all services of the Railways and the aviation sector remained suspended. The road transport options were also terminated, in accordance to the lockdown guidelines issued by the Centre.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 01, 2020 04:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).