Rlys needs 6hrs to ready trains for guest workers, but no requests from govt yet

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:4.5.2020

Southern Railway will need at least six hours to prepare a 24-coach train to ferry guest workers home, after the state government sends a request. But the zone is yet to get such a request from the government.

Since, passenger trains are not being operated during the lockdown, rakes parked in the yards need to be checked, cleaned and released for service. Around 50 employees may be needed at the yard for this.

A senior railway official said efforts are on to ensure that trains can be arranged at the shortest possible notice. “It will be easy to prepare coaches as shutdown restrictions are being relaxed and more employees are supposed to report for work on Monday. Hence, a rake can be arranged quicker. If a request comes in the morning, a train can be arranged for departure by 3pm or 4pm,” he added.

Since passenger services are not going to be operated till May 17, sparing a rake will be easy.

“Bringing the workers from their camps, grouping them according to the destinations they want to go to, arranging food for them and other preparation will take some time. Trains can be readied by then,” said an official.

Going by the number of guest workers stuck in camps and shelters run by the government, the city may need several trains to transport them. One train can carry 1,000 passengers or less because of social distancing norms.

“Four passengers will be allowed in a coupe as middle berths are not to be occupied. Only one person is allowed to sit on the side seats because of social distancing requirements. Only 54 people will be allowed to travel in a coach.”

As the guest workers have already been sent from Kerala by trains, railway officials are worried that guest workers in Tamil Nadu may throng the railway stations as it happened on March 25, demanding trains to take them home.

WAITLISTED: Thousands of guest workers have left Kerala on special trains to their native places. The many guest workers stranded in Chennai have been demanding that they be sent home