New Delhi, March 15 Amid coronavirus crisis, the Railway Board on Sunday asked all the zonal railways to remove the curtains from the air conditioned coaches and withdraw the blankets provided to passengers.
The Railway Board in an order to all the General Managers and zonal railways asked them to use precautionary measures.
As per the orders, all the curtains from the air conditioned coaches will have to be removed, blankets to be withdrawn from service till further advise, AC temperature to be set at 24-25 degree Celsius and additional bedsheets for exigencies will have to be kept by the zonal railways.
The Board also asked the zonal railways to provide blankets with fresh washed covers (separate for up/dn directions) to the passengers travelling in the first AC.
Zonal railways will have to make adequate publicity about the orders so that passengers travelling can make preparations accordingly, the order said.
All curtains and spare blankets have to be washed, dried and stored in clean, dry storage facility and 100 per cent fresh washed linens have to be provided in sealed packets as per existing instructions.
Taking precautionary measures, the zonal railways have been asked to ensure disinfection of the pantry car, toilets, taps, coaches as per prescribed frequency.
Cleaning of air filters in the air conditioning coaches, disinfecting taps, timers, doors, rails of the train and to keep soap, sanitizers in the toilets as well as in the pantry car has to be ensured, it said.
The national transporter carries over 10 lakh passengers everyday across the country.
So far, over 100 positive coronavirus cases and two deaths have been reported in India due to the deadly virus.
( With inputs from IANS )