Coronavirus scare: South Western Railway withdraws blankets and curtains in AC coaches

BENGALURU: To prevent the spread of Covid-19, South Western Railway on Sunday discontinued blankets and curtains in AC coaches. This means passengers traveling in AC coaches of long distance trains will have to bring their own blankets.
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"It has been decided to withdraw curtains & blankets from AC coaches to prevent any possibility of spread of Covid-19 infection. Passengers may have to bring their own blankets if needed", said a SWR spokesperson on Sunday.
Railway officials said blankets and curtains in AC coaches are not washed and replaced daily unlike bed sheets and pillow covers. Other railway zones like Southern Railway, Western Railway, Central Railway, South Eastern Railway and East Coast Railway took similar decisions after railway board decided to withdraw blankets and curtains in AC coaches. All trains are also being sanitised before putting them into passenger services.
Ashok Kumar Verma, Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager told TOI that temperature in AC coaches will be set around 25-26 degrees C from Monday.
Meanwhile, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) officials said they will take a decision with regard to blankets and curtains in premium buses on Monday. KSRTC provides blankets in 250 premium buses to more than 7,000 passengers. However, bed sheets are provided only in sleeper class buses to more than 2,000 passengers.
"We wash blankets and bed sheets every day. We will review the situation and take a decision on Monday” said a KSRTC official. However, curtains in KSRTC premium buses are not washed every day.
KSRTC officials said most of the inter-state premium bus services have been cancelled due to the panic over Covid-19. It has suffered a loss of Rs 1.75 crore due to cancellation of services between March 1 and 13. On Sunday alone, KSRTC cancelled 591 buses.