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MEMBERS REFERENCE SERVICE

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LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT

NEW

REFERENCE NOTE

For the use of Members of Parliament NOT FOR PUBLICATION

No. 26/RN/Ref./June/2020

ROLE OF IN ADDRESSING CHALLENGES DURING THE LOCKDOWN PERIOD

Prepared by Smt. Shalima Sharma, Deputy Director (23035499) and Shri Baikunthanath Mohapatra, Joint Director (23035477) under the supervision of Shri Naushad Alam, Director (23034749) of Lok Sabha Secretariat. reference

The Reference Note is for personal use of the Members in the discharge of their Parliamentary duties, and is not for publication. This Service is not to be quoted as the source of information as it is based on the sources indicated at the end/in the context.

ROLE OF INDIAN RAILWAYS IN ADDRESSING CHALLENGES DURING THE LOCKDOWN PERIOD “Proud of the Indian Railways Team. They have been continuously helping our citizens in the crucial hour” –Shri , Prime Ministry of .

Introduction The world including India has suffered a significant setback by the COVID-19. Indian Railways geared up its entire machinery in a big way to take comprehensive measures on prevention of COVID-19 virus infection. To prevent the spread of the disease, all passenger services including Premium , Express Trains and Suburban trains were cancelled by the Indian Railways from 22 March 2020.

Comprehensive Measures taken by the Indian Railways to fight Covid-19: To ensure an uninterrupted and seamless supply of chain of goods and essential commodities in the wake of COVID-19, Indian Railways is offering its unhindered services to meet the needs of the citizens of the nation in various ways which are as follows:- Freight Trains Operations: Indian Railways operated uninterrupted 24x7 Freight Trains in order to ensure availability of essential commodities throughout the country. From 24 March 2020 to 22 May 2020 Railways moved more than 23.2 lakh wagons of commodities including approx. 13.5 lakh wagons of essential commodities like food, grams, salt, sugar, edible oil, coal and petroleum products. From 01 April 2020 to 22 May 2020 the total quantity of foodgrains loaded and transported by Indian Railways was 9.7 Million Tonnes as compared to 4.6 Million Tonnes in the corresponding period of last year. New Parcel Special Trains: While the freight operations of Indian Railways are meeting the needs of bulk transportation of essential commodities, there are various items that need to be delivered in comparatively smaller quantities. To serve this purpose Railways operated Parcel Special Trains on over Eight Nine (89) identified and notified routes to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items like medical supplies, medical equipments, fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy products and seeds for agricultural work, etc. Total 3,255 parcel trains have been operated from 22 March 2020 till 22 May 2020.

-2- Facility of Railway Parcel Van have also been provided by the Railways for quick transportation of essential items in small parcel sizes to supplement the supply chain during this lockdown period.

Railway Health Services: Indian Railways is playing a key role in addressing the challenges caused by the nationwide lockdown by providing the following Health Services.  Indian Railways have a chain of 586 Health units, 45 Sub-divisional Hospitals, 8 Production Units Hospitals, 16 Zonal Hospitals spread all over the country. A significant portion of these facilities has been dedicated to combat the Corona Virus.  Availability of 2500 posts of Doctors and 35,000 para medic staff including nursing staff, pharmacist.  Around 5000 beds in 17 dedicated hospitals and 33 Hospital Blocks in Railway Hospitals have been identified for treatment of COVID-19 patients.  11,000 quarantine beds have been made available across the Indian Railways establishments.  A total of 20,000 coaches with 3.2 lakh beds have been identified for conversion in case of requirement.  Production of 20 lakh reusable face masks and more than 1.4 lakh of hand sanitiser have been produced.  Production of 1.2 lakh Coveralls of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) till 21 May 2020.

Free Meals Supply by IRCTC The global pandemic has created unprecedented situations leaving a large number of people vulnerable to hunger. Those worst hit by this pandemic and lockdown are stranded persons, daily wage labourers, migrants, children, coolies, homeless, the poor and many who form the floating population. Indian Railways staff from a number of Railway organizations have worked tirelessly since 28 March 2020 to provide hot cooked meals to needy people after the lockdown due to COVID-19. Distribution of food is being done with the help of (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), commercial departments of Zones, State Governments, District administrations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), even beyond the station vicinity to cater to the food requirements of needy people in areas surrounding the railway stations. With the active cooperation of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) base kitchens, over 4.7 million free meals were served till 22 May 2020.

-3- Shramik Special Trains Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains, Indian Railways has been operating “Shramik Special” trains form 1May 2020. Total 3840 “Shramik Special” trains have been operationalized till 28 May 2020 from various states across the country while about 67 "Shramik Special Trains" are in the pipeline. Till 27 May 2020 around 50 lakh migrants have been transported through Shramik Special Trains in 27 days. These 3840 trains were originated from various States. The top five States/UTs from where maximum trains originated are (979 Trains), (695 Trains), (397 Trains), (263 Trains) and (263 Trains). These “Shramik Special” Trains were terminated in various States across the country. The top five states where maximum trains terminated are Uttar Pradesh(1520 Trains), Bihar(1296 Trains), (167 Trains), (121 Trains), (139 Trains). Indian Railways has distributed more than 85 lakh free meals and about 1.25 crore free water bottles to migrants travelling in Shramik Special Trains since 1 May 2020. This includes meals prepared by Indian Railways Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and distributed by Zonal Railways.

Special Passenger Trains The Indian Railways resumed passenger train services from 12 May 2020. Initially, the all air- conditioned services started on Rajdhani routes and the fare was equivalent to that of the super- fast trains. A total of 15 special trains (30, considering the return) from to 15 Major cities with Eighty (80) total stoppages are: Table: Special Passenger Trains S. No. From To S. No. From To 1. New Delhi 9. New Delhi Bengaluru 2. New Delhi 10. New Delhi

3. New Delhi 11. New Delhi 4. New Delhi Patna 12. New Delhi Madgaon

5. New Delhi Bilaspur 13. New Delhi Central

6. New Delhi Ranchi 14. New Delhi 7. New Delhi 15. New Delhi Tawi 8. New Delhi

-3-

Initially tickets were sold through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) but subsequently tickets were also available on Passenger Reservation System (PRS), Counters and with Authorised Agents. Passengers with confirmed/RAC tickets are allowed to enter the railway station and board the train, Waitlisted Passengers are not allowed to enter the railway station board, there is no provision for Booking of Tatkal Tickets in these trains.

Railway Control Centre

Railway Emergency Cell for COVID is a comprehensive nation-wide Unit comprising of about 400 Officers and staff from Railway Board to Divisions. During the lockdown, the Cell responded to about 13,000 queries, requests and suggestions every day, from five communication and feedback platforms - Help lines 139 and 138, social media (specially Twitter), email ([email protected]) and CPGRAMS. More than 90% of the queries were responded on one-to-one basis, mostly in the local language of the caller, over telephone. RailMadad Helpline 139 answered over 2,30,000 queries on one-on-one basis in first four weeks of the lockdown and over 1,10,000 calls were received on Helpline 138, which was geofenced, that is, calls land on the nearest Railway Divisional Control Office.

Current Scenario: Bringing Gradual Normalcy in Train Operations Ministry of Railways (MoR) after consultation with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) partially restored train services w.e.f. from 1June 2020. List of 200 passenger train services is given in the Annexure.

These trains are in addition to the existing Shramik Special trains and Special Passenger AC trains (30 trains). These are running on the pattern of Regular Trains and are fully reserved trains having both AC and Non-AC classes. General Seating(GS) coaches have reserved sitting accommodation. There will be no unreserved coach in the train. Normal class-wise fare will be charged. Passengers travelling by these special services will observe the following precautions :

 All passengers must wear face covers/masks at the entry and during travel.  The passengers shall reach the station 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening at the station. Passengers who are found asymptomatic will be permitted to travel. -4-  Passengers shall observe social distancing.  On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to health protocols as are prescribed by the destination State/UT.

Refund Rules: If during screening at the station a passenger has very high temperature/symptoms of Covid-19, he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to passenger

Catering: No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for pre paid meal booking, e- catering is not there. However, IRCTC will make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on payment basis only in limited trains, having Pantry car attached. Passengers are encouraged to carry their own food and drinking water. All static catering and vending units (Multi Purpose stalls, Bookstalls, Chemist stalls etc) at Railway stations will remain open. In Food Plaza and Refreshment rooms, cooked items may be served as take away only, with no sit-sitting arrangements in place Linen and Blanket: No Linen, blankets and curtains will be provided inside the train. Passengers are advised to carry their own linen for the travel.

Entry/Exit gates: Zonal Railways have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at Railway stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face to face movement of passengers. Zonal railways will be guided by standard social distancing guidelines on stations and trains and observe the safety, security and hygiene protocols.

CONCLUSION Within every challenge lies an opportunity and that is what the Indian Railways has shown precisely. The situation provides policy maker a clean slate. Apart from addressing the immediate challenges for the Indian Railways, it presents a massive opportunity for re-thinking operations in the ‘new normal’.

-5- Sources: 1. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/-proud-of-indian-railways-pm-modi-hails-ministries-to-help-people- amid-coronavirus-11587198917571.html

2. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-covid-19-crisis-offers-clean-slate-to-policymakers-for- rethinking-rail-strategy/352095 3. PIB Release dated 29.03.2020 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1609042

4. PIB Release dated 31.05.2020 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1628161

5. Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways Magazine, April 2020, pp.5, 7, 8 http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/HindiMagazine/IRApril2020.pdf

6. Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways Magazine, May 2020, pp.4, 5, 6 http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/HindiMagazine/IRMay2020.pdf

7. https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/05/11/full-list-of-trains-that-will-run-from-may-12-how-to-book- the-journey-fare-and-more.html Annexure LIST OF 200 (100 PAIRS) /EXPRESS TRAINS Pair No Train No. From To Train Name 1 01016/15 Lokmanyatilak (T) Express 2 01019/20 Mumbai CST Bhubaneswar Konarka Express 3 01061/62 Lokmanyatilak (T) Darbhanga Darbhanga Express 4 01071/72 Lokmanyatilak (T) 5 01093/94 Mumbai CST Varanasi Mahanagri Express 6 01139/40 Mumbai CST Gadag Express 7 01301/02 Mumbai CST Ksr Bengaluru 8 02156/55 H. Nizamuddin Habibganj Express 9 02230/29 New Delhi Jn 10 02296/95 Danapur Ksr Bengaluru Sanghmitra Express 11 02377/78 New Alipurduar Padatik Express 12 02392/91 New Delhi Shramjevi Express 13 02394/93 New Delhi Rajendra Nagar Sampoorn Kranti Express 14 02418/17 New Delhi Prayagraj Pragraj Expess 15 02420/19 New Delhi Lucknow 16 02407/08 ASR NJP Karambhum i Exp 17 02357/58 express 18 02452/51 New Delhi 19 02463/64 Delhi S Rohilla Samprak kranti 20 02477/78 Jodhpur express 21 02479/80 Bandra (T) Jodhpur 22 02533/34 Lucknow Jn Mumbai CST Pushpak Express 23 02555/56 Gorakhpur 24 02560/59 New Delhi Manduadih Shivganga Express 25 02618/17 H. Nizamuddin Mangla Express 26 04009/10 Anand Vihar Bapudham Motihari Champaran 27 02629/30 New Delhi Yesvantpur KarnatakaSamprak kranti Express 28 02701/02 Mumbai CST Husain Sagar Express 29 02703/04 Howrah Secunderabad 30 02715/16 H. S. Amritsar 31 02724/23 New Delhi Hyderabad Express 32 02792/91 Danapur Secunderabad Express 33 02801/02 New Delhi 34 02810/09 Howrah Mumbai CST HWH-Mumbai Mail 35 02833/34 Ahmedabad Howrah Express 36 02904/03 Amritsar Mumbai Central Mail 37 02916/15 Delhi Ahmedabad Ashram Express 38 02926/25 Amritsar Bandra (T) 39 02933/34 Mumbai Central Ahmedabad 40 02963/64 H. Nizamuddin City 41 08183/84 Tatanagar Danapur Express 42 05484/83 Delhi Alipurduar 43 06345/46 Mumbai (LTT) Thiruvananthapuram Central Netrvati Express 44 02805/06 Vishakapatnam New Delhi AP Express 45 02182/81 H. Nizamuddin Jabalpur Express 46 02418/17 New Delhi Varanasi 47 02955/56 Mumbai Central jaipur Express 48 07201/02 Secunderabad Golconda Express 49 02793/94 Nizamabad Rayalseema Express 50 09165/66 Ahmedabad Darbhanga 51 09167/68 Ahmedabad Varanasi Sabarmati Express 52 09045/46 Chhapra Tapti Ganga Express 53 03201/02 Patna Lokmanyatilak (T) Express 54 02553/54 Saharsa New Delhi 55 02307/08 Howrah Jodhpu/ Express 56 02381/82 Howrah New Delhi Poorva Express 57 02303/04 Howrah New Delhi Poorva Express 58 02141/42 Lokmanyatilak (T) Patliputra Express 59 02557/58 Anand Vihar Sapt Kranti Express

60 05273/74 Anand Vihar Satyagrah Express 61 02419/20 Anand Vihar Ghazipur Suhaildev Express 62 02433/34 Anand Vihar Ghazipur Express 63 09041/42 Bandra (T) Ghazipur Express 64 04673/74 Amritsar Jaynagar 65 04649/50 Amritsar Jaynagar Saryu Yamuna Express 66 02541/42 Gorakhpur Lokmanyatilak (T) Express 67 05955/56 Dibrugarh Delhi Brahmputra Mail 68 02149/50 Danapur Express 69 02947/48 Ahmedabad Patna 70 05645/46 Lokmanyatilak (T) Guwahati Express 71 02727/28 Hyderabad Godavari Express 72 Spl. Ahmedabad Muzaffarpur Via Surat 73 Spl. Ahmedabad Gorakhpur Via Surat

Duronto trains having NON AC Coaches JANSHATABDI TRAINS 74 02245/12246 Howrah (1050) Yasvantpur (1600) 75 02201/22202 Sealdah (2000) Puri (0435) Duronto Express 76 02213/22214 Shalimar (2200) Patna (0640) Duronto Express 77 02283/12284 Ernakulam (2325) Nizamuddin (1940) Duronto Express 78 02285/12286 Secundarabad (1310) Nizamuddin (1035) Duronto Express

Duronto trains having NON AC Coaches

JANSHATABDI TRAIN

Sr. Train No. From To Train Name 79 02073/74 Howrah Jn (1325) Bhubaneswar (2020) Jan 80 02023/24 Howrah Jn (1405) Patna Jn (2245) 81 02365/66 Patna (0600) Ranchi (1355) Jan Shatabdi Express 82 02091/92 Dehradun (1545) Kathgodam (2335) Jan Shatabdi Express 83 02067/68 Guwahati (0630) Jorhat Town (1320) Jan Shatabdi Express 84 02053/54 (1445) Amritsar (2205) Jan Shatabdi Express 85 02055/56 New Delhi (1520) Dehradun (2110)) Jan Shatabdi Express 86 02057/58 New Delhi (1435) Una Himachal (2210) Jan Shatabdi Express 87 02065/66 Ajmer (0540) Delhi Sarai Rohilla (1135) Jan Shatabdi Express 88 02069/70 Raigarh (0620) (1325) Jan Shatabdi Express 89 02021/22 Howrah (0620) Barbil (1305) Jan Shatabdi Express 90 02075/76 Calicut (1345) Trivendrum (2135) Jan Shatabdi Express 91 02081/82 Kannur (0450) Trivendrum (1425) Jan Shatabdi Express 92 02079/80 Bengaluru (0600) (1345) Jan Shatabdi Express 93 02089/90 Yashwantpur (1730) Shivamoga Town (2155) Jan Shatabdi Express 94 02059/60 Kota (0555) Nizamuddin (1230) Jan Shatabdi Express 95 02061/62 Habibganj (1740) Jabalpur (2255) Jan Shatabdi Express 96 09037/38 Bandra(T) Gorakhpur Avadh Express 97 09039/40 Bandra(T) Muzaffarpur Avadh Express 98 02565/66 Darbhanga New Delhi Bihar Sampark Kranti 99 02917/18 Ahmedabad Nizamuddin Gujarat Sampark Kranti 100 02779/80 Vasco da Gama Nizamuddin Express

Timings will be as per regular trains * Stoppages and frequency will also be the same as regular trains * Composition of train will be as per regular train

(Source: PIB Release dated 31.05.2020 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1628161)