South Eastern Railway (SER) on Tuesday notified the extension of cancellation of all passenger trains in its four divisions — Ranchi, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur and Adra — in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Sanjay Ghosh, chief public relations officer of the SER, said: “In continuation of the measures taken in lockdown to control the spread of the virus, it has been decided that all passenger train services such as the premium trains, mail/express trains, passenger trains and suburban trains shall continue to be cancelled till May 3.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown May 3.

To ensure the supply of essential goods in various parts of the country, movement of goods and parcel trains will continue.

Ghosh said all counters for booking of rail tickets for reserved/unreserved travel at railway stations and outside the station premises shall remain closed till May 3.

SER has also completed the modification work of 281 passenger coaches into quarantine wards with facilities to accommodate patients in view of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Initially, it was planned that 329 coaches would be converted into special wards. But as of now, 281 coaches were available for the modification.

Ghosh said the conversion of passenger coaches into isolation/quarantine wards was carried out on war footing at the Kharagpur railway workshop, Santragachi railway depot, Tatanagar railway depot and Hatia depot under the guidance of medical experts of the SER.

“The modified coaches have been equipped with necessary facilities to serve the Covid-19 affected people,” Ghosh said. According to him, sleeper and general class coaches were utilised for the modification.

“Necessary steps have been taken to ensure disinfection and sanitising of the modified coaches. Mosquito nets have been fixed on the windows and measures have been taken to ensure proper ventilation,” he said.

A converted coach has nine cabins with two berths in each cabin. One cabin will be utilised by the paramedical staff and the other eight can accommodate two patients in each cabin.

The first cabin near the bathing room is the paramedics/store cabin and is screened off from the rest of the coach with plastic curtains.

The middle berths in the coaches have been removed and all charging points for mobiles and laptops have been made functional.

One Indian style toilet has been converted into a bathing room with soap dispenser and other facilities. There are three toilets in each coach.

Three dustbins (in red, blue and yellow colors) with foot-operated lids have been provided in all the cabins.

Apart from this, extra bottle holders and three-peg coat hooks have been fixed in each cabin for holding medical equipment. Suitable clamping arrangements have also been made for oxygen cylinders.