: As part of measures in thefight against COVID-19, Secunderabad-headquartered South Central Railway (SCR) on Thursday said it has converted 486 non-AC coaches into isolation wards.The Ministry of Railways had instructed all zonal railways to change around 5,000 non-AC coaches into such wards to check the spread COVID-19, a SCR press release said here.Out of the 5,000 non-AC coaches planned for conversion, the South Central Railway was given a target of 486 coaches.The officers and staff of SCR, under the directions of Gajanan Mallya, its general manager, chalked out plans for early completion of the target, the release said.Mallya instructed procurement of essential material by the workshops at Lallaguda and Tirupati and advised the six divisions and two workshops of the Zone to take up the task of conversion of coaches.Accordingly, the Secunderabad Division converted 120 coaches, Hyderabad Division 40 coaches, Vijayawada Division 50, Guntakal Division 61, Nanded division 30, Guntur 25 coaches, Lallaguda workshop converted 76 coaches and Tirupati workshop converted 84 coaches, it said.Accordingly, in a short span of time, South Central Railway has converted all of the targeted 486 coaches into isolation wards by optimally utilising the available resources and manpower during times of crisis, it said.Each isolation coach would have eight coupes for COVID- 19 patients and one coupe for medical staff. The coaches have been modified to have one bathroom, three toilets, curtains in between the coupes and all the necessary electrical and medical equipment, as per the advisory issued by Railway Board, it added.The General Manager appreciated the efforts of officers and staff, especially the mechanical wing, in the completion ofessential work within a reasonable time with the available workforce, it added.
