Railway Deploys 2670 Covid Care Beds at 9 Railway Stations

• Railways meet the demand of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments for Covid Care Coaches
• Covid Care Coaches are also stationed at Faizabad, Bhadohi, Varanasi, Bareli and Nazibabad in Uttar-Pradesh ready for deployment on demand by the state government
• Nearly 64000 Covid Care Beds Provisioned in around 4000 Covid Care Coaches across the Country

The Ministry of Railways is swiftly meeting the demands of state governments for the facility of Covid Care coaches during the current raging second spell of the Covid pandemic with its fleet of 4000 coaches (retrofitted as isolation units) with a capacity of 64000 beds. As per currently available data, these facilities are seeing a steady intake registering a cumulative admission of 81 Covid patients and their subsequent discharge of 22 patients. None of the facilities have registered any casualties.  

The updated position of the utility of these coaches positioned at the nine major stations in the States of Delhi, UP, MP and Maharashtra are as follows:

In Delhi, the Railway has catered to the full demand of state governments’ demand for 75 Covid Care coaches with a capacity of 1200 beds. 50 coaches are positioned at Shakurbasti and 25 coaches at Anand Vihar stations. Presently, five patients have been admitted at Shakurbasti and one patient discharged. In the first Covid wave last year (2020), 857 patients were admitted and discharged at Shakurbasti facility.

In Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), the Railway has deployed 20 isolation coaches with a capacity of 292 beds. Three patients were admitted and are presently utilising the facility.

In Nandrubar (Maharashtra), 24 isolation coaches with a capacity of 292 beds have been deployed. This facility has registered 73 admissions till date. Of the 55 patients’ admissions in the current Covid spell, seven patients have been discharged.  Four new admissions were recorded on April 26 and the unit has 326 beds still available for Covid patients.

In UP, though the state government has not yet requisitioned the coaches, 10 coaches each are placed at Faizabad, Bhadohi, Varanasi, Bareli and Nazibabad totalling a capacity of 800 beds (50 coaches).

This post has been published in arrangement with Jaideep J Shenoy