During the Coronavirus pandemic the SCR showed the country how to turn anadversity into an opportunity
The Covid-19 pandemic may have severely impacted the Indian economy but the South Central Railway (SCR) rose to the occasion by running scores of Shramik Special trains for ferrying thousands of migrant labourers out of Hyderabad to cities and towns in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Odisha. Sensing the growing and urgent nationwide clamour for immigrant labourers to be allowed to head home by train — as opposed to them being forced to trek kilometres (km) on foot, with many of the workers dying in the process — the SCR was first off the mark. It took the initiative of helping out the hungry, impoverished and tired workers who had reached a breaking point. The SCR began an immigrant labour special train from Lingampally near Hyderabad to Hatia in Jharkhand as early as May 1, 2020, followed by 242 special trains from its stations located in Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to various stations in North and North-West India. During the next two months, the SCR transported over 3,13,500 passengers and reportedly at the peak of the operations, 43 Shramik Specials were rolled out in a short span of 12 hours.
In the midst of the raging Coronavirus pandemic, the SCR created a safe environment for the labourers who were heading back to their hometowns and villages. The SCR ensured social distancing, repeated sanitising of all trains, use of hand sanitisers by all, contactless thermal scanning and ticket checking through cameras by the ticket checking staff. Plus, the employees deputed at stations wore Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits, gloves and facial shields, in order to ensure that they and the passengers remained safe from the virus. They also made sure that the passengers wore masks and followed other COVID protocols. If they had not done so, the consequences for the people returning home and the towns and villages would have been disastrous. Special arrangements for food at specified intervals were made for originating trains as well as those that were passing through, with the support of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). As though the Covid-19 contagion was not enough of a crisis for the nation to deal with, disaster struck on May 5 when a major gas leak was reported at Vizag. Consequently, the movement of all trains, including the Shramik Specials had to be halted through the city, and they had to be diverted on alternative routes after a short delay.
However, the shutting down of passenger trains was an opportunity for the SCR to run more of freight and special parcel trains, allowing it to earn revenue when general economic activity was on the decline, nationwide. Weekly special parcel trains were run from the New Kacheguda goods shed near Hyderabad to New Guwahati, carrying fish, dry fish, eggs, lemon, oil, ghee and so on. The Covid-19 outbreak offered the Railways an opportunity to capture new freight, too and it began loading industrial salt from the Kakinada Sea Ports Limited; rice from Nagireddipalli; pulses from Kadapa; onions from Nagarsol; dry chillies from Reddypalem and last but not the least turmeric from Nizamabad, all destined for Bangladesh.
The all-India rail traffic having been reduced to less than half of its peak levels enabled the SCR to carry out a major overhaul of the iconic bridge over the mighty Godavari River. Built in 1977, the bridge was in need of repair and a major overhaul, but it was almost impossible to shut it down for extended periods on such a busy route. Due to the pandemic, the repair work was undertaken after a gap of almost 43 years, including track renewal over the entire length of the three-km-long bridge, by ensuring a 36-hour complete shutdown of traffic. Track replacement work was carried out with the aid of Plasser Quick Relaying System (PQRS) machines after carrying out deep screening work over all the six spans, while the road traffic continued on the lower deck. Similarly, scissors crossovers that had been laid way back in 1970 in Kazipet with wooden sleepers, could now be replaced with Pre-Stressed Concrete (PSC) sleepers, thanks to the possibility of shutting down traffic for 72 hours, which was unthinkable before the pandemic hit the country. Similarly, the Vijayawada yard, a major facility for the North-South and East Coast freight movement had wooden sleepers on its north and south end turnouts. These were replaced with PSC ones during the lockdown period. In all, 8,257 km of track was patrolled on foot and the sidings were completed. Thanks to the steep decline in passenger traffic, 44 km of track between Akola and Akot of the vital North-South link of Akola-Khandwa was converted from metre to broad gauge and 149 km of existing single-line track was doubled.
With five major hospitals and 44 health units spread over its network, the SCR could play a key role in providing critically needed facilities such as quarantine centres, in which 1,017 beds were set up in a short span of three weeks. The SCR’s premier and oldest workshop belonging to the era of the Nizam State Railways also rose to the occasion by building automatic hand sanitiser dispensers, foot-operated taps and water coolers. These were located at public places such as canteens and main gates, keeping the SCR staff and the passengers safe and earning the SCR tonnes of goodwill. During the pandemic the SCR showed the country how to turn any adversity into an opportunity.
(The writer is former member, Railway Board. The views expressed are personal.)
