NEW DELHI: Just days after the government declared full lock in March suspending air, land and rail transport operations due to the pandemic, Indian railways got a unique task to transport a batch of swab samples from Delhi to Indore for testing in a laboratory within a set time frame.
The national carrier sent these samples with a guard deployed in a cargo train and a full follow-up was conducted until the samples were collected by designated laboratory personnel.
From transporting these samples to ensuring the supply of basic goods and transporting more than 63 lakhs of migrant workers to 23 states through 4,621 trips during the shutdown, it was perhaps the largest operation ever carried out by the railroads.
“For the first time in Indian Railways history, the passenger trains came to a complete stop. Everyone had no idea about the virus and there were several challenges. We assure our employees that there will be no shortage of PPE equipment, disinfectants and masks for them. We had designated 50 of our 130 hospitals as Covid hospitals to assure them that we will take care of anyone who becomes infected. This generated the confidence of our staff to take up the challenge ”. Railway board CEO and president VK Yadav he told TOI.
Almost 30,000 railway employees have so far been infected by Covid and around 700 people have lost their lives. Yadav said that the work culture in the railways is like that of the army and the staff rose to the challenge.
Citing an example of how the railways worked out all the details to transport stranded migrant workers, described as a humanitarian crisis, the head of the Railroad Board said they were aware that they needed to run the trains. “We were fully prepared and we had asked all the zones to keep some trains ready to operate in the shortest time possible. The government decided to run the first Shramik Special train at 8 pm on April 30 and we stopped the train at 5 am the next day, ”Yadav added.
During the shutdown, the railways had the added responsibility of operating more freight trains and package trains to transport essential supplies, including medicines, medical equipment, and milk. Yadav said that operating these trains worked like a life saver and that the national carrier did not even think about revenue.
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