Modified rail coaches to provide 3.2 lakh isolation beds: Rlys

Further fine-tuning its plans to offer 20,000 coaches converted into isolation wards for coronavirus patients, the Indian Railways on Tuesday said these coaches can accommodate up to 3.2 lakh possible beds.

It has also earmarked targets for its 16 zones, with the South Central Railways headquartered at Secunderabad in Telangana leading the pack with 486 coaches being allocated for conversion, followed by Mumbai headquartered Central Railway being allocated 482 coaches.

"These modified 20,000 coaches can accommodate up to 3.2 lakh possible beds for isolation needs. Work on modification of 5,000 coaches, which are to be converted initially into quarantine/isolation coaches has already started.

"These 5,000 coaches would be having a capacity to accommodate up to 80,000 beds. One coach is expected to have 16 beds for isolation," a statement from the railways said.

Only non-AC ICF sleeper coaches are being planned to be utilised for conversion into quarantine/isolation coaches.