Indian Railways running 230 special trains across the country has ensured that the air inside air-conditioned (AC) coaches is replaced 15 to 16 times every hour as against five to six changes in vogue earlier for making the journey safer and comfortable for passengers.
“We did a lot of research and our medical team had suggested we change air 12 times an hour, but we decided to enhance it to 15-16 times for utmost safety, even if it means we cannot keep temperatures at 22 degree C. We are keeping the AC coaches temperatures at about 25 degree C and not supplying linen,” explained Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav on Tuesday.
This is not the only significant change forced on the Railways following the outbreak of COVID-19. The Railway Board is seriously contemplating to totally dispense with the linen supplied to AC coaches altogether. In the place of cooked meals, pre-packed food items are being given like airlines do to passengers, on long-distance Rajdhani trains. This has gained popularity and could be continued, he said, during his exclusive interaction.
Trial runs
The Chairman asserted that various wings did extensive trial runs and planning before launching the special trains. “We are not looking at income generation, but to give confidence to people to achieve some kind of normalcy. These operations may continue for six months as people are apprehensive about travel. We are also advising against unnecessary travel as these trains are meant for those stranded in other places, for economic activity, for emergency travel and for migrant labour returning,” he explained.
Mr. Yadav revealed that just 40-50 trains are running full and most are having low occupancy, but the railways will continue to run these services allowing 120 days advance reservation. Operations could be ramped up wherever a rise in demand is noticed on a particular route. “It was a conscious decision to connect high-density traffic routes but we had to change schedules and halts at last minute to accommodate requests of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Kerala,” he said. Shatabdi Trains running for 500-600 km too may be operated in the coming days.
“Travel is safe provided precautions like usage of face masks, sanitisers and personal hygiene is maintained. We thought of removing the middle berth, but decided it did not matter much. However, we are requesting the elderly and those with health issues to avoid travel,” said the Chairman.