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Railways issues travel advisory, asks people to postpone all journeys
Stressing on the need for isolation, the Railways said to avoid any kind of infection, people should postpone all journeys and work towards keeping themselves and their families safe.
The Indian Railways has found at least a dozen cases of passengers found flouting self-quarantine orders who have tested positive so far and has issued an immediate advisory to not travel by train.
“Railways has found some cases of Coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky. Please avoid train travel as you may also get infected if your co-passenger has Coronavirus. Please postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe,” the ministry of railways said in its advisory issued Saturday.
Railways has also begun contact tracing of passengers across all zones who could have come in contact.
Among the first such cases who tested positive were eight passengers who had travelled AP Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi to Ramagundam in Telangana on March 13. Railways said that they had tested positive on Friday.
In addition, four more passengers travelling on Godan Express (Train 11055) from Mumbai to Jabalpur on March 16 have also been tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
“We have begun contact tracing of all passengers. These four had a travelled to India from Dubai last week. They were travelling in coach B1 and all passengers are being contacted. We trace them through the registered details for their tickets and then take the help of local state authorities. As an immediate step we also stop the train and quickly sanitize the entire coach” a railway ministry official said.
The official said the coaches are also isolated following sanitation process.
The national carrier, over the past week also had a slew of cases with passengers being caught with their home quarantine stamps and flouting their orders.
A couple who was found with home quarantine stamps in coach B1 of the Bangalore- Delhi Rajdhani train were deboarded on Saturday. Railway ministry said the train was also stopped mid-way while the coach was immediately isolated.
“As per the information provided by on-board staff the two passengers identified were a newly married couple. The train had reached Kazipet in Telangana in the morning. There was a complaint by a passenger who was using the wash basin to wash hands and observed the seal on their hand and immediately informed the Travelling Ticket Examiner( TTE). The train was stopped and both the passengers were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We have sanitized and locked the coach and the air conditioning has also been switched off,” another senior ministry official said.
On Wednesday, railways found four passengers traveling in coaches G4 and G5 of Garib Rath (train 12216) from Mumbai to Delhi and were deboarded at Palghar station when passengers raised an alarm after seeing their home quarantine stamps. The four passengers had flown down from Germany and were headed to Surat, Gujarat.
“They were taken to the government hospital at Palghar. They had undergone checking at the airport and had a seal mentioning home quarantine of 14 days. They were handed over to the district medical authorities,” the ministry said.
On Thursday six passengers with quarantine stamps were deboarded from Saurashtra Express today. They were to be in quarantine till April 1 according to their stamps and had defied the advisory to board a train to Surat. They were deboarded at the Borivali station in Mumbai, Maharashtra and had recently returned from Singapore.
These men were supposed to be in quarantine till April 1. They defied the advisory and boarded a train to Surat.
As many as 17 such cases of passengers flouting home-quarantine orders were deboarded from their trains.
“Total 17 passengers with home quarantine stamps deboarded from three trains of Western Railways today i.e. on 19th March, 2020 on Mumbai- NDLS Rajdhani Exp, Saurashtra Exp and Kutch Express. In addition to this one lady with quarantine stamp was not allowed to board the Avantika Express from Mumbai Central in the evening,” according to a statement issued by the Western Railway zone.
The national carrier on Friday has also announced nearly 3700 passenger and mail express trains will remain cancelled on Sunday till 10 PM following Prime Minister’s call for a “Janta Curfew.”
Till now, more than 200 long distance trains have already been cancelled by the railways. In a review meeting taken by the minister of railways, a slew of measures were announced for preventing the spread of the disease, including setting up of a six member ‘COVID-19 rapid response team’ comprising six Executive Directors from Railway Board to coordinate with all railway zones.
