GUWAHATI: Indian Railways has decided to modify/convert 20,000 coaches into isolation quarters to accommodate the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
It is to be mentioned that five zonal railways have already prepared prototypes for the quarantine/isolation coaches in which only Non-AC ICF sleeper coaches are being planned to be utilized for conversion into quarantine/isolation facilities.
"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 the capacity to accommodate up to 80,000 beds. One coach is expected to have 16 beds for isolation," the Railways said in a statement.