BENGALURU:
South Western Railway officials are surpised that the state government, which is struggling to arrange beds for the growing numbers of infected patients, has not yet indicated its desire to use the coaches that have been converted into isolation wards.
As far back as April, the Indian Railways had converted hundreds of railway coaches into Covid isolation wards. SWR itself has repurposed 320 coaches to accommodate 2,400 beds.
“Already, railway bogies are being used for corona treatment in Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Telangana. Similarly, the Karnataka government can utilise the isolation wards set up in railway coaches,” said SWR’s PRO E Vijaya.
The repurposed SWR coaches were built at the Mysuru and Hubballi railway workshops in just 10 days. These coaches are on standby at 14 locations, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hassan, Hubballi and Vasco. (Look at below tweet posted by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on March 28)
Preparing to Combat Coronavirus: In a novel initiative, Railways has converted train coaches into isolation wards for COVID-19 patients 🛌
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 28, 2020
Now, Railways will offer clean, sanitised & hygienic surroundings for the patients to comfortably recover. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/miYO3LOGfN