NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 5
Even as the Indian Railways is mulling to gear up for the end of the 21-day lockdown on April 14, it will ensure the safety of passengers as first priority by taking a slew of measures like making passengers wear masks to using the Arogya Setu app to check their health status before allowing them to travel and encouraging social distancing onboard, said sources privy to the developments.
While no decision has yet been taken on when the passenger services, which were suspended in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, will be resumed, officials said it is likely to be done in a phased manner after the green signal from the government.
A decision, officials said, is likely to be taken in the coming week on how to restore services.
The railways, officials said, has discussed the option of resuming services only on specific approval of each train from the Railway Board. Suggestions for phase-wise planning have to be provided by the zone to the board.
“These are sensitive times and we are not looking in terms of revenue generation for now. The focus is on passenger safety and to ensure that the disease does not spread. Trains will run in due course, once the government gives us the green signal. However as of now, we have not taken any decision yet,” said a senior officer.
Working 24×7 to serve the nation & ensure adequate supplies for the people, Railways carried 80 containers carrying wheat from Vallarpadam, Cochin Port in Kerala to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/PDYNKKd8kC
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) April 4, 2020
In the zones, officials are also identifying trains and routes which can be resumed with the approval of the board. The focus, say, officials, is to see if routes catering to migrant workers can be resumed initially and also those that are not travelling or has halted at COVID-19 hotspots.
Officials added the railways will also have to factor in how the lockdown is eventually opened. If it is selective, then trains will only run in areas where lockdown is lifted, officials said.
Railways is also unlikely to rescind a March 19 order suspending all concessions for passengers except those offered to patients, students and people with disabilities in a hurry, even after the lockdown period to discourage unnecessary travel.
સુરક્ષા સાથે સેવા…..
કોવિડ -૧૯ ની વૈશ્વિક મહામારી દરમ્યાન યાત્રિકોના માલસામાનની હેરફેર કરી રોજીંદું જીવન નિર્વાહ ચલાવતા, કુલીભાઇઓને પોલીસ અધિક્ષકશ્રી, દ્રારા કાલુપુર રેલ્વે સ્ટેશન ખાતે રાશનકીટ નું વિતરણ કરવામાં આવેલ છે. @GujaratPolice pic.twitter.com/ShMo4cO4Vo— SP Western Railway Ahmedabad (@SP_WR_Amd) April 3, 2020
Railways, officials said, are also discussing protocols that need to be followed once services begin to ensure the safety of passengers. They are mulling options like thermal screening and other methods to screen passengers boarding trains.
SDPO Surat GRP with Surat GRP Staff to distribute Fruits,Masks,Food Packets(chhole bhature and butter milk) at Surat Railway platform to help poor and homeless people during Global epidemic of Covid-19. GRP Baroda unit always with u #StaySafeStayHome pic.twitter.com/TljuxubwcJ
— Western Railway Vadodara (GRP) (@Grp_Vadodara) March 30, 2020
“Once the services are resumed, we are thinking of requesting passengers to wear masks as per the health ministry advisory. We are also thinking of using the Arogya app to check the health and wellness of patients and allow only healthy passengers to board trains, an official said.
As part of its preparedness, the Indian Railways has also asked zones to ensure the security of coaches parked in depots.
A Special Parcel train 🚉 carrying 390 tonnes of essential food items such as dairy products 🥛, noodles 🍜, etc. in 20 parcel vans departed yesterday from 🛤️ Moga in #Punjab to 🛤️ Changsari in #Assam. pic.twitter.com/3Hyug9M072
— United Nations in India (@UNinIndia) March 31, 2020
Officials say once the services resume full throttle, they expect overcrowding at stations and measures have to be chalked out on how to deal with them.
The focus now for railways, the officials said, is to ensure that the rakes of passenger trains which were suspended due to the lockdown had returned to their respective bases, received proper maintenance like charging of batteries, cleaning of bio-toilets, and were ready to return on the tracks once the resumption of services is announced.
In continuation of the measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Indian Railways ramps up in-house production of masks and sanitisers.
Till 1st April 2020, Railways has produced a total of 2,87,704 masks and 25,806 litres of sanitiser.https://t.co/2MvTGPpBLj pic.twitter.com/e3O3Z52VA0
— Piyush Goyal (मोदी का परिवार) (@PiyushGoyal) April 3, 2020
Officials also said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is keen that the railways concentrate on ensuring that the different railway zones continue their efforts towards contributing towards the larger fight against coronavirus.
Railway PSUs have already committed to converting around 5000 coaches as isolation wards initially which are likely to be sent in rural areas which do not have hospitals, has offered its hospitals for infected patients and are also producing essential medical goods like masks, sanitisers, PPEs.
Indian Railways is ensuring that supply of sugar, salt and edible oil is fully maintained for consumption of the common man during the COVID-19 lockdownhttps://t.co/haqKBgmGCN#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/MDEpxPqdLw
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) April 5, 2020
The minister has given instructions that proper planning should be done of cleaning of linens, sanitation and proper disposal of biomedical waste that is expected to be generated at hospitals and isolation coaches.
