Reducing occupancy in trains, no linen, health checkup of passengers, medics and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits on board and no-touch ticket checking are some of the measures suggested by the International Union of Railways (which calls itself UIC) in a report to guide the management of COVID-19 among railway stakeholders worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The paper, titled “Management of COVID-19: Guidance for Railway Stakeholders” will be updated through the pandemic as the situation evolved.
The report shares the best practices from UIC members which, besides India, include Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain and the USA.
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Sources say the Indian Railways, which is working on its strategy to exit the lockdown, is looking at measures taken globally to fight the pandemic. The Railway passenger services in India were halted on March 25 when a 21-day countrywide lockdown came into effect to hinder the spread of COVID-19.
The UIC, which has 194 members spread across the globe, has said that the idea behind the paper was to help railways to manage their COVID-19 response.
It has suggested that railways adopt policies to reduce the likelihood of transmission, for example: removing magazines, booklets, menus, blankets, pillows, headphones, etc. from the carriages, changing the blankets after every single use in night trains, etc.
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Using disposable rubber or nitrile gloves to unpack deliveries, thermal screening of passengers before boarding, wearing single-use gloves for ticket controlling, or stop controlling tickets to avoid touching, are some other points mentioned in the report.
The Korea Railroad in its best practices has listed disinfecting highly-affected areas and trains more than twice a day, allocating window seats first as an effort to distancing between passengers, and doubling unreserved seats as some of the measures to control the pandemic.
The Spanish Railroad is selling only one-third of seats in trains which are still running.
Sources said that railway officials in India too are mulling if only a certain percentage of seats can be sold.
The UIC paper also recommends forming a task force to monitor the evolution of the situation in the respective countries and liaison with local authorities and identify preventive measures and procedures to be taken.
The international railway body has also recommended that personal-protective equipment (PPE) be made available at defined places on trains and at stations for use if an infection is suspected. This should be based on the recommendations of national authorities, it said.
Some UIC members like China have health checkpoints at train and metro stations where temperature checks are taking place. It has also run migrant-worker trains, providing point-to-point transport services post the lockdown to ensure resumption of work, the report states.