Bengaluru, May 24 (IANS): The South Western Railway (SWR) zone has run 11 Shramik special trains to transport 16,972 migrants back home to five states, an official said on Saturday.

"First Shramik special train from SWR left Hassan at 2 p.m. carrying 1,520 passengers to Katihar in Bihar," said a railway zone spokesperson.

Saturday's second special train departed from Bengaluru Cantonment at 2 p.m. with 1,545 migrants, including 25 children to Bhagalpur in Bihar.

Third Shramik special train left from Bengaluru Cantonment with 1,520 passengers at 5:12 p.m. to Katihar.

The fourth special train departed from Hosur in Tamil Nadu at 5:52 p.m. with 1,616 migrants to Bokaro in Jharkhand.

Friday's fifth special train left KSR Bengaluru Cantonment at 6:25 p.m. with 1,600 migrants to Khurda Road in Odisha.

Similarly, the sixth special train departed from Chikka Bannavara station near Bengaluru to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh (UP) at 6:45 p.m. with 1,544 passengers.

The seventh special train left from Bengaluru Cantonment at 7:40 p.m. with 1,640 migrants to Jiribam in Manipur.

Friday's eighth special train departed from KSR Bengaluru at 8:50 p.m. to Bokaro Steel City with 1,529 migrants.

The ninth special train left from Chikka Bannavara to Dalton Gunj in Jharkhand at 9:42 p.m. with 1,555 migrants.

The 10th special train departed from Bengaluru Cantonment at 10:25 p.m. with 1,496 migrants to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

This was the first Shramik special train to Kerala from Karnataka.

Saturday's 11th special train left from Bengaluru city at 10:55 p.m. with 1,407 migrants to Dhanbad in Jharkhand.

Hitherto, the railway zone has run 140 Shramik specials to ferry more than 1.9 lakh migrants.

The special trains are being run following the Ministry of Home Affairs' permission for the movement of stranded migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists and others.