As many as 97 coaches modified into COVID-19 isolation units in the State have been reconverted into passenger coaches. This is as per a directive of the Railway Board since it is no more needed for isolation facilities.
The 97 coaches are among 473 coaches converted into isolation units in April, spending ₹35,000 a coach. “The reconverted coaches are being used as Shramik Specials for the return of migrant workers from Kerala. They have come in handy as 10 Shramik Specials are being operated daily from the State,” Divisional Railway Manager Shirish Kumar Sinha told The Hindu .
Of the 97 reconverted units, 65 belong to the Thiruvananthapuram railway division and 32 to Palakkad. The reconversion was done in the coaching depots at Nagercoil, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochuveli and Ernakulam in the Thiruvananthapuram division and Mangaluru in the Palakkad division.
Thirty-one isolation units which had been lying at Shoranur Junction for weeks were taken to Mangaluru for reconversion recently. The works were completed on Thursday and one was taken for periodic overhauling, a spokesman of the Palakkad division said.
Isolation units were set up in eight of the nine cabins in a coach. The sleepers removed from the first cabin to convert it into a paramedical area was restored. The middle sleepers removed from eight cabins were again fixed. One of the toilets converted into a bathroom has been replaced and curtains removed. Other facilities such as three-peg coat hooks had been retained.
1,520 beds
A total of 1,520 beds were available in the isolation units readied by the mechanical wing. For the cash-strapped Railways, the ₹33,95,000 spent for converting the coaches into isolation units was a drain as the units could not be used for isolation. “The reconversion is not as expensive as conversion,” Mr. Sinha said.
