348 COVID Care Coaches deployed by Railways so far

New Delhi [India], May 17 (ANI): As many as 348 COVID Care Coaches have so far been deployed by the Indian Railways in eight states, informed Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma.

"Railways have readied a total of 4,176 coaches as COVID Care coaches which have 64,000 beds. These are being deployed as per the demand of the states. So far, 348 coaches have been deployed in eight states. It has deployed these coaches in Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Tripura," Suneet Sharma told media on Monday.

So far, more than 4,32,000 railway staff have been administered the COVID-19 vaccine.

Sharma also informed that Indian Railways was operating 1,768 mail/express trains prior to COVID-19. But due to the prevailing situation many trains have had to be canceled. Currently, only 1,005 mail/express and 517 passenger trains are being run by the Railways.

"Also, the operation of suburban trains is being conducted in a limited manner after having discussed it with the state governments," the Chairman further said.

Overcoming a number of odds, the Railways have transported more than 10,000 metric tonnes of medical oxygen to various states to date and proved to be a lifeline of its supply chain.

As of Monday, Railways has crossed the milestone of delivering more than 10,300 MT of LMO via 160 Oxygen Expresses to 13 states, in slightly over 23 days of time. The first Oxygen Express delivered a load of 126 MT to Maharashtra on April 24.

The Railways have created new standards and unprecedented benchmarks in running of Oxygen Express Freight Trains with their average speed being above 55 km per hour.

The technical stoppages have been reduced to 1 minute for crew changes over different sections. The tracks are also kept open and high alertness is maintained to ensure that Oxygen Express keeps zipping through. (ANI)