Southern Railway has initiated a set of measures, including disinfecting coaches during every primary maintenance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Southern Railway General Manager John Thomas has sent a detailed note to all Principal Heads of Department and Divisional Railway Managers on Monday asking them to instruct their staff not to travel to the affected cities and conduct correspondences through phone /e-mail/video conference.
Front line staff such as station masters and ticket checking staff have been asked to inform the nearest state coordinating centre and hospital immediately on noticing a suspected case and take precautionary measures.
The Environment and Housekeeping Management Directorate of the Railway Board, he pointed out, had issued instructions that areas which come into frequent contact with travelling public in coaches such as entrance handrail in coaches, door handles, toilet door handles and latches, toilet health faucets and water taps should be cleaned frequently. This is to be carried out at all terminal/ originating stations.
The Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer has been asked to arrange for cleaning of coaches using disinfectant during every primary maintenance. The note instructed all Divisional Railway Managers of the zone to conduct awareness campaign among railway employees to prevent the spread of the cases and protect staff.
It asked the railway staff to seek medical care if they had fever, cough, difficulty in breathing and stay home. The medical department has been asked to maintain a close liaison with the State Health Department and take necessary measures in railways as required. The Principal Chief Medical Director and Principal Chief Commercial Manager have been instructed to keep a database containing the recent travel history of suspected passengers and staff along with their address, mobile and Aadhar number.
A senior divisional railway officer here said consequent to the Southern Railway administration’s instruction passenger coaches of express trains owned by the Tiruchi Railway Division were being disinfected intensively at the Broad Gauge Coaching Complex at Tiruchi and Villupuram Junction.
The exercise commenced from Monday onwards at the two coaching complexes, the railway official said adding that the Tiruchi Coaching Complex alone owned over 400 passenger coaches. This include compartments of the Chennai - Thanjavur - Chennai Uzhavan expresses, Tiruchi - Thiruvananthapuram - Tiruchi Inter City Expresses, Tiruchi - Howrah- Tiruchi and Mannargudi - Bhagat Ki Kothi - Mannargudi expresses. The coaches were being disinfected and when they come for primary maintenance at the coaching complex.
In addition to owning coaches of express trains, the Tiruchi Broad Gauge Coaching Complex also holds some rakes of passenger trains besides Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rakes. Special attention was being to paid to vulnerable spots such as hand rails, water taps, gangways, toilet door handle during the cleaning exercise, the official added.
