Confusion at Anand Vihar amid news of isolation coaches

Confusion prevailed at Delhi’s Anand Vihar Railway Station amid reports that train services would be stopped from the station on Monday as all platforms would be reserved for Covid-19 isolation coaches.

A day after the Centre promised assistance in mitigating the shortage of beds across the capital to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, the Railways on Monday announced that 500 railway coaches converted into isolation wards would be deployed in Delhi—of which around 180 would be stationed at Anand Vihar. Earlier, the Railways had deployed 50 coaches at the Shakur Basti Railway Station (which are unused so far).

“Around 50 coaches containing 900 beds have already been deployed at Shakur Basti. Around 170-180 coaches will be placed at Anand Vihar by Tuesday and the rest will be placed at other stations. Around 20 more coaches will be stationed at third station by Tuesday. The name of the third station will be finalised by Tuesday morning,” Deepak Kumar, chief public relations officer of Northern Railways, said on Monday.

“These refurbished coaches can be used to isolate suspected and confirmed cases. The Railways will provide water, electricity, charging facilities and three oxygen cylinders per isolation coach. We have installed ramps and drawn circles to ensure social distancing,” Kumar said.

However, unlike Shakur Basti, where the coaches are deployed in the washing area and have not interrupted train services, the five trains running to and from Anand Vihar will be operating from the Old Delhi Railway Station, until further orders, beginning Tuesday. Railways officials at Shakur Basti said the entry-exit of patients is from a different area and the functioning of trains will not be disrupted.

However, passengers outside the Anand Vihar Railway Station were confused on Monday. “We got to know through news reports that trains to and from Anand Vihar would run from Old Delhi Railway Station from Monday. So we went there first. But we were told to go back to Anand Vihar. Due to this confusion, we had to travel extra miles in this weather unnecessarily,” Vijay Kumar, who works as a contractual driver in a private firm in west Delhi, said.

Railways officials said that the notices were issued while keeping the “journey commencing dates” in mind. “For instance, trains coming from Muzaffarpur, which started today, will terminate at Old Delhi Railway Station on Tuesday instead of Anand Vihar. The journey commencing date from the other end had to be taken into account,” said a Railways official, requesting anonymity.

The station bore an empty look on Monday, barring sanitation workers and very few functioning food stalls. “We visited the Anand Vihar Railway Station on Monday to take stock and formulate plans regarding security once the coaches arrive tomorrow,” said DCP (Railways) Harinder Kumar Singh.

At the Shakur Basti Railway Station—where the first Covid Care Centre was deployed on May 31—the Railway Protection Force is in charge of guarding these coaches. Any untoward incident is to be taken care of by the local police, officials said. So far, there are no Covid-19 patients in these coaches. On Monday, the Railway Board Chairman said that Covid isolation coaches are meant to be used when the health infrastructure of various states is exhausted due to the spike in Covid-19 cases across the country.