Serving at the frontline in railway stations and carrying out duties on board trains amid the pandemic, a vast majority of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel attached to the Tiruchi Railway Division have taken the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since February when the vaccination exercise for the frontline warriors commenced.
Out of the total RPF strength of 535 in Tiruchi Division, as many as 448 of them had taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine till now either at the Divisional Railway Hospital at Ponmalai here or at the nearby Government Hospitals. This includes personnel serving in different RPF posts in railway stations, those attached with the intelligence branch, crime cell and divisional security control room in Tiruchi. Nearly 85 per cent of the RPF personnel of Tiruchi Division have been administered the vaccine with some of them already having taken the second dose, say RPF authorities.
Personnel deployed for train escort duties on board express trains that were being operated during the COVID-19 pandemic period were being provided with safety kits such as masks and gloves as a protective measure as they come into close contact with travelling passengers. Some of the special trains in which the escort parties were being deployed include those which were inter-State trains such as the Tiruchi - Howrah - Tiruchi bi-weekly special. The escort parties were mostly covering night trains when they pass through Tiruchi Division.
The authorities say the cultural team of RPF Tiruchi Division had conducted awareness campaigns at important stations driving home to the passengers the importance of wearing masks while venturing out, ensuring personal distancing and other precautionary measures. The campaigns were conducted at Thanjavur on April 5, at Tiruchi Junction on April 6, at Nagapattinam on April 7, Vriddhachalam on April 8 and at Villupuram on April 9. The cultural team has now gone to Chennai to carry out similar campaigns in that division, the authorities further said adding that the campaigns would continue in the wake of the spike in COVID-19 cases.