AP govt urges Railways to provide one intermediary stop for special trains

The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday asked the Railways to provide only one intermediary stop apart from the terminal station for the special trains planned to be operated from June 1 as it would be "very difficult" to manage receiving of passengers at 70-odd railway stations.

Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney addressed a letter to Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav to this effect. "As you are aware, we have to make necessary Covid-19 medical and other protocols at all these railway stations. We also have to test these inbound rail passengers and make necessary arrangements for Covid-19 symptomatic patients and other facilities for transport of asymptomatic passengers. It will be very difficult for us to manage receiving of passengers at 70-odd railway stations in view of the requirement of proper testing for coronavirus," the Chief Secretary said.

As per the schedule announced by the railways, 11 pairs of regular trains out of the 200 planned from June 1 would crisscross Andhra Pradesh with over 70 stops. "It may be mentioned here that public transport within the state has been made available.

Therefore, the state government would like to provide only one additional stop generally, besides terminal stoppage.

This will enable us to monitor properly the movement of all rail passengers and make necessary arrangements to contain Covid-19," the top official added. Sawhney thanked the railways for running Sharmik special trains, through which over one lakh migrant workers were sent to their home states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and northeastern states. Meanwhile, the state Medical and Health Department said in a release that Covid-19 tests would be conducted on persons coming into the state through various border checkpoints.

Those who test negative would be sent for home quarantine for 14 days and those testing positive would be sent to a government quarantine facility, the release said.