New Delhi: The Indian Railways on Tuesday said that it will modify 20,000 of its passenger train coaches into quarantine centres to accommodate over 3.2 lakh novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients across the country. The national transporter, which has geared up to prepare the passenger train coaches into isolation wards said that as part of COVID-19 preparedness in a statement said, “It has been decided by Indian Railways that it would modify 20,000 coaches into quarantine or isolation coaches to augment the quarantine facilities being created in the country.”
The ministry said that to design the coaches as isolation wards, consultations were held with Armed Forces Medical Services, Medical Department of various Zonal Railways, and Ayushman Bharat, Ministry of Health. The five Zonal Railway have already prepared prototypes for the quarantine or isolation coaches.
“These modified 20,000 coaches can accommodate upto 3.2 lakh possible beds for isolation needs,” it said, adding that work on modification of 5,000 coaches, which are to be converted initially into isolation coaches has already started.
“These 5,000 coaches would be having capacity to accommodate upto 80,000 beds and one coach is expected to have 16 beds for isolation,” it said.
The railways said that the for the first 5,000 isolation coaches, Central Railways will be converting 482 coaches, 266 by North Western Railway, 338 by Eastern Railway, 473 by Southern Railway, 208 by East Central Railway, 486 by South Central Railway, 261 by East Coast Railway, 329 by South East Railway, 370 by Northern Railway, 111 by South East Central Railway, 290 by North Central Railway, 312 by South West Railway, 216 by North East Railway, 410 by West Railway, 315 by North Frontier Railway and 133 by West Central Railway. (IANS)
