Indian Railways turn coaches into isolation wards amid coronavirus outbreak

Chanda said a non-AC sleeper coach is already converted into an isolation ward for probable patients suffering from coronavirus.

In a unique endeavour, the Indian railways has started work to convert train coaches into isolation wards to deal with rush of COVID-19 patients, railway official said on Saturday.

"Out of the 17 railway zones in India, the Railway Board has asked Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and the Northearn Railway to modify train coaches into isolation wards on experimental basis to deal with patients of novel coronavirus," the NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Subhanan Chanda told IANS.

He said such a plan can help the government and all other authorities to be well-prepared to meet any emergency.

"To start with, the NFR is converting coaches at the coach maintenance depot in Kamakhya and Guwahati into isolation wards after consulting medical professionals of the railways," the CPRO said.

Chanda said a non-AC sleeper coach is already converted into an isolation ward for probable patients suffering from COVID-19.

"Each cabin of a coach has been converted into an independent isolation ward which will accommodate one patient. There are nine such cabins in one coach. One of the four toilets of the coach has been converted into a bathroom with facility for shower," the NFR official said.

He said that insulated bamboo sheets put up on the roof and the side walls of the modified coach for reducing the heat transfer and temperature inside the converted isolation wards.

"If the railway coaches, experimentally converted into isolation wards, become purposeful to deal with the COVID-19 patients, then the railway board might ask all the 17 zones to modify more coaches to convert into isolation wards," chanda said.