Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis: Central Railway go out of their way to help heart patient in Maharashtra`s Chiplun

In an incident that required some quick thinking, the Central Railway managed to help a heart patient from Chiplun in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district to get the much-required medicines shipped from Mumbai, amid the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. The Parcel Office of the Central Railway collected the medicine parcel from Vikhroli and booked it on the Okha-Ernakulam Parcel Train.

Interestingly, the train did not have a scheduled halt at Chiplun but the staff coordinated with Konkan Railway authorities and requested a brief halt to drop the parcel, which was then handed over the Chiplun Station Master. 

In yet another similar incident, Central Railway had helped transport camel milk from Falna in Rajasthan to Secunderabad, which was much required for a child under special treatment.

Amidst nation wide lockdown, when passenger services have remained suspended, the parcel and freight trains have moved across the country transporting food grains, perishable food items, medicines, etc. 

Central Railway alone has transported 283 tonnes of medical items during the lockdown. It has already run 180 timetabled parcel trains and  40 more are scheduled. Mumbai, Pune, Solapur, Bhusaval, and Nagpur divisions have worked relentlessly during India’s battle against coronavirus.

Other units of Central Railway have also pitched in with their own contribution. The Parel and Matunga Railway Workshops have manufactured over 13,000 masks and 1,600 litres of sanitizers for use of the railway staff and other frontline workers. More than a century old Kalyan Railway School joined in voluntarily preparing masks and sanitizers.