South Central Railway’s premier station of Secunderabad came alive after a gap of nearly two months when it handled passengers of two trains moving between Bengaluru and New Delhi on Wednesday. About 240 passengers alighted from Train No. 02691 KSR Bengaluru – New Delhi AC special train in the morning and a similar number of passengers boarded the special train to New Delhi. Similarly, Train no. 02692 New Delhi – KSR Bengaluru AC special train arrived in the evening and 275 passengers alighted from the special train and another 485 passengers boarded it towards KSR Bengaluru.
General Manager Gajanan Mallya was at the station to personally oversee the safety protocols put in place for receiving the passengers arriving and also screening for those coming in to board the trains. The entire station was cleaned and disinfected with separate entry/exit gates for the incoming and outgoing passengers. Senior officials informed that only confirmed ticket holders were allowed in after temperature checks so that only asymptomatic passengers were allowed into the station. Sanitisers were made available for everyone with markings indicating the social distance to be maintained inside the platforms. The railway police ensured that there was an orderly alighting and getting down from the trains. Face masks were a must for those coming inside the station and those alighting from the trains. Home quarantine stamping was made for passengers disembarking for 14 days with TS health officials taking down contact details including mobile numbers and home addresses of each one for health monitoring later.
Passengers seem to be satisfied with the arrangements made as testified by Arjun Roy, “The arrangements have been decent including sanitisers, courteous staff and all. I would give 9 out of 10.” Another passenger Anamika stated that she is happy at meticulous screening of passengers and “social distancing being maintained even inside the coaches”.
However, what has been noticeable and admitted by senior officials themselves is that the middle berths inside these Rajdhani special trains are intact, contrary to the indications earlier that the railways may dispense with it to maintain the mandatory social distancing inside coaches.
