Thiruvananthapuram: With Indian Railways all set to partially commence some train services from Tuesday to help those stranded in various places, Kerala government plans to put in place airport-model COVID-19 screening at Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram railway stations., where the trains will halt.
Railways will run six Rajadhani trains between Kerala and New Delhi in a week, starting from Tuesday. The Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram train will run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday every week, while the return trains will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The trains will stop only at Kozhikode and Ernakulam railway stations. It will operate via Konkan route.
State minister V S Sunil Kumar said symptomatic passengers will be shifted to hospitals from the stations and others would be transported to their home districts in specially arranged Kerala State Road Transport (KSRTC) buses.
"These special trains will have only three stops in Kerala – Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.
The Railways will provide us with the full address details of the passengers. We will segregate them according to their respective districts and finalise the list of people alighting at the three stations.
Those who reach the state will be screened and tested for symptoms," Sunil Kumar told the news agency PTI.
As per central government guidelines, Railways has to ensure that all passengers are compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to board the trains.
Passengers will be provided with hand sanitizers at entry and exit points at stations and in coaches and all passengers will have to wear face masks.
On arrival at their destinations here, they will have to adhere to the state's health protocols, he said.
The minister said counters like those at the airports to screen passengers would be in place at the three stations.
"We will open separate counters as we have done in the airports. We expect at least 1,400 people in each train and they will alight at three different stations. The final plan will be made by Wednesday evening," he said.
The passengers will be subjected to thermal screening at the railway stations. A passenger having high temperature would be segregated and sent to the hospitals for a formal check-up, he said.
"Those who are symptomatic will be sent to the hospital. Non-symptomatic persons will be allowed to board KSRTC buses, taken to their districts and home quarantined," he added.
Various departments and the local self-government institutions will enquire whether the passenger has facilities at their residences to go into home quarantine and if not, they would be shifted to institutional quarantine.
"We will also enquire whether the person has a facility to stay under home quarantine.
For home quarantine, we will enquire whether the house has a bath-attached room, whether it is possible for the person to stay alone in the room and if there is anyone above the age of 60 years in that house.
If not, we will arrange institutional quarantine. Paid quarantine is also available," Sunil Kumar said.
There was no need for any relatives or friends to reach the station to pick the passengers as the state has arranged transportation facility by KSRTC buses, he said.
Sunil Kumar said Kerala has been following the Centre's guidelines, which state that anyone arriving in Kerala from other states will have to be in a strict 14-day quarantine.
There will be local level monitoring committees to ensure that those who are under home quarantine do not move around to visit friends and relatives, he said.
The state has 519 confirmed cases of COVID-19 till now and currently, 27 are under treatment.
