The Ministry of Railways has issued a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be strictly adhered to in the movement of passengers by trains across the country.
With the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the railways decided to advise passengers to wear face masks at the time of entry and also during the entire journey. Any violation of the advisory would be dealt with in accordance with various rules/guidelines.
In a note issued to General Managers of all Zonal Railways on Wednesday, the Railway Board Executive Director (Passenger Marketing) Neeraj Sharma said passengers would have to maintain physical distancing at the time of boarding and travel. He said no catering charges would be included in the fares of trains. While the facility of pre-paid food services on trains would be disabled, Ready to Eat meals, packed items, packaged drinking water bottles, tea/coffee/beverages would be made available to the passengers in trains on payment basis through pantry cars/train side vending.
The rule of not allowing passengers with wait-listed tickets or allowing on board booking of tickets and withdrawal of issuing linen,blankets and curtains inside trains would continue. Only passengers found asymptomatic after going three thermal screening would be allowed to travel.
Alert issued
In a related development, the Goldenrock Workshop in Tiruchi, Southern Railway, issued an alert on the “alarming rise” in COVID-19 cases and urged employees/family members to follow safety protocols.
In an advisory issued late on Wednesday, the Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer said 42 of the 79 RT-PCR tests came out positive in the workshop hospital. As on May 4, 2021, 70 persons were undergoing treatment for coronavirus and four deaths were reported due to COVID-19.
Asking the staff and their family members to get vaccinated, the official who is also the COVID-19 nodal officer for the workshop also urged them to stay away from crowd, functions etc. and also to avoid travel.