Spirit is fine, but what about safety? Central Railway's non-technical staff has set up an in-house sewing station, stitching 20,000 masks and counting. But the question is, are these masks going to protect them from Coronavirus? There was a surge in purchase of masks and hand sanitiser following the pandemic. This prompted the Indian Railways to stitch its own. A senior official said shortage of mask and hand sanitiser is a stark reality.

CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said over 22,000 masks have been prepared in-house by employees who volunteered to assist those working to run freight trains. "The volunteers include ticket chekers, Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTE), railway school teachers, peons, train guards, Railway Protection Force and workshop staff," he added. This is in addition to the contribution by two workshops in Parel and Matunga and also Mumbai division employees who have made over 8,500 masks alone. Over 2,500 litres of sanitiser has also been made by the CR staff.