Railway modifies coaches into COVID care facilities to deal with bed shortages

New Delhi, April 19: Union Minister Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry once again converted railway coaches into COVID-19 care-cum-isolation facility amid looking at the alarming surge in the COVID-19 cases. This isolation coach will help the state governments who are facing a shortage of beds in their states.

 

 

The coach has been modified from a general compartment where lower berths in each coupe are serving as isolation points for patients. The railways have also affixed a cooler for each coupe for the comfort of patients and have also covered the coach's roof with sacks to keep it in the harsh summers.

 

Goyal took social media and shared the photos of the isolation coaches made by the railway administration. He tweeted, "railways is devoting all its resources for fighting COVID-19. Isolation coaches have started functioning at Nandurbar, Maharashtra with COVID-19 patients being admitted."

 

According to the ministry, the railway has total converted 4,002 train coaches as a COVID-19 care-cum-isolation facility. These coaches will be allocated to state governments on request.

 

 

 

Currently, railways have deployed 94 coaches in Maharashtra's Nandurbar. These coaches will be used by the state government when they exhaust their medical facilities.

 

Apart from Maharashtra, Northern Railways has deployed 50 isolation coaches at Delhi's Shakur Basti railway station and 25 such facilities will be placed at Anand Vihar. This development came after the Delhi government requested Railways to arrange up to 5,000 beds in view of the rising Coronavirus cases in the national capital.

 

 

According to the minister, the railway can set up 3 lakh isolation beds across the country based on the demand of the state. Last year, during the first wave of coronavirus, Indian Railways had deployed several COVID Care coaches in various states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh.

 

Apart from it, the ministry has also started its operation "Oxygen Express" trains which will transport liquid medical oxygen across the nation.