The Ranchi railway division is converting railway coaches into isolation centres at Ranchi, Hatia and Muri stations to augment such facilities in the state.

Railway employees were found working on the project at the Hatia rail yard on Saturday to convert train coaches into isolation centres at the earliest.

The Indian Railways has decided to do so across the country and all railway divisions are working on such projects.

In Ranchi division, 60 such sleeper coaches are to be modified to provide 540 quarantine beds with nine beds in each coach. Each coach will have three toilets, the fourth will be used for some other purpose. So, nine persons will share three toilets, Neeraj Kumar, senior divisional operations manager who also holds the charge of the chief of public relations of Ranchi railway division, said.

Kumar, who is supervising the modification of the coaches, added that one coach has nine coupes. Only one quarantined person will stay in a coupe, he added. “The middle berths of the coupes are being removed to make those spacious and comfortable,” he said.

There will be separate arrangements for doctors and nursing staff who will attend to the quarantined persons.

Besides toilets, the coaches will have wash basins and garbage bins, and windows will be covered with mosquito nets.

“Once ready, these coaches be placed at Ranchi, Hatia and Muri stations of the division,” Kumar told The Telegraph. “Coaches can also be moved to other areas if the need arises in the future.”

The local administration has already made such an isolation centre at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium at Hotwar to quarantine persons showing symptoms of the coronavirus infection or whose who have been exposed to confirmed Covid-19 patients.

On Friday, the district confirmed that Haj House in Kadru was earmarked as a quarantine centre.