Hyderabad, Apr 23 (IANS): As part of the Indian Railways' initiatives to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Central Railway (SCR) has converted 486 railway coaches into isolation wards.

As part of contingency measures in the fight against coronavirus, the Ministry of Railways had instructed zonal railways to convert around 5,000 non-AC passenger coaches into isolation wards.

Ch Rakesh, chief spokesperson of the zone, said "The SCR converted all of the targeted 486 coaches into isolation wards by using the available resources and manpower. Each isolation coach will have eight coupes for patients and one for medical staff."

The passenger coaches have been modified to have one bathroom, three toilets, curtains in between the coupes and all the necessary electrical and medical equipment, as per the advisory issued by the Railway Board.

The SCR was given a target of converting 486 coaches into isolation wards. It chalked out the plans for early achievement of the target.

Gajanan Mallya, SCR General Manager, said, "We procured the essential material from Lallaguda and Tirupati workshops under the centralised requirement and advised all six divisions and the two workshops of the zone to take up the task of conversion of coaches."

While the Secunderabad Division converted 120 coaches, the Hyderabad Division 40, the Vijayawada Division 50, the Guntakal Division 61, the Nanded Division 30, and the Guntur Division 25 coaches.

Similarly, the Lallaguda workshop converted 76 coaches and Tirupati workshop 84.

The SCR has been supporting the various charitable as well as commercial initiatives during the lockdown since March 24. Apart from operating express parcel trains for transporting business and farm commodities, the SCR has also operated milk delivery express services to distant parts of the country.