Western Railway keeps nation' milk supply chain going amid lockdown

Western Railway has kept the countrys milk supply chain intact with the Ahmedabad Division loading six trains of loose milk containing 690000 kg milk in each rake since 15 March This milk is loaded in specially designed RMT Rail Milk Tank wagons In addition to the above four parcel rakes and two conventional jumbo rakes have been loaded containing Milk Powder fresh milk pouches Cheese Butter Biscuits which has been despatched to various destinations such as for Cuttack Guwahati Delhi and Jhansi area during last weekParmeshwar Funkwal Divisional Railway Manager of Rajkot alongwith other senior divisional officers interacts with the staff present at Rajkot stationWith the 21 days nationwide lockdown declared by Honble Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent the spread of corona virus in the country all passenger train services across the country including the suburban local trains have been cancelled up to April 14 2020 However goods trains are running and this requires keeping the tracks in healthy and safe condition to transport essential commodities to different parts of countryEngineering department of WRly is contributing itrsquos every bit in doing so with the help of essential category employess such Trackmen Keymen Valvemen etc who are undertaking activities like Keyman Patrolling minimum inspections of assets USFD testing tamping machines working and minimum essential gang activities are being carried out daily along with adequate precautions like social distancing all employees wearing mask sanitisation of Equipment and self amp thermal scanning etc Alok Kansal General Manager of Western Railway has appreciated the outstanding amp exemplary work done by these crusaders of track maintainers amidst such trying situations and has urged them to ensure all best possible precautions while dispensing their duties GM Shri Kansal has also instructed all Divisional Rly Managers to take proper care of all their respective track maintainers amp other field staff as they are the real care takers of the life line of the NationTrack maintainers work relentlessly to maintain railway tracksAccording to Ravinder Bhakar Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway despite the lifeline coming to a halt Western Railway has continued to work at large by ensuring that essential commodities may be made available across the nation in this dire situation This has been made possible due to the untiring call of duty by various ground staff of W Rly The transportation of these essential staff has been arranged by plying workmen specials tower wagon light engineer etc Special health camps are being organized across all the divisions of W Rly to cover all the gang men Group D staff and all the station employees In Vadodara division 348 employees from Vishwamitri Chavaj Ankleshwar Kashipura Sarar Miyagam Varedia Palej Varnama stations were screened and necessary advisory was issued accordingly Employees who had recent history of travel outside states were advised for home quarantine as a precautionary measure in the wake of COVID ndash 19 outbreakRafiq Jusab stitches masks for fellow trackmenA group of Trackmen of W Rlys Bhavnagar division has gone beyond their call of duty and prepared 141 masks using the clothes available in the stores which will then be distributed amongst the gang members Shri Rafiq Jusab trackmaintainer of gang number 34 posted at Porbandar station made this commendable contribution Another section of employees who are working day in and day out are the staff from Signalling amp Telecom deptt Inspite of the lockdown Signaling amp Telecom assets require to be maintained to run the essential goods services safely and timely Same are being maintained with minimum possible personnel keeping all the requisite precautions of social distancing sanitization and personal hygiene Also all the telecommunication services of Railways viz control communication Railway internet services HQ and Division telephone exchanges have been working uninterrupted during the lockdown The Video ndash Conferencing VC equipment system has been fitted at GM amp DRM camp offices to facilitate VC with various departmental resources includingwith Railway Board These daily teleconference services are being facilitated by the Telecom Unit with minimum staff to maintain coordination among the divisional officersBhakar further informed that Western Railway is fully committed to its customers and ensuring supply of essential commodities like milk and milk products to different parts of the country Ahmedabad Division of W Rly has loaded six rakes of loose milk containing 690000 kg milk in each rake since 15 March 2020 This milk is loaded in specially designed RMT Rail Milk Tank wagons In addition to the above four parcel rakes and two conventional jumbo rakes have been loaded containing Milk Powder fresh milk pouches Cheese Butter Biscuits which has been despatched to various destinations such as for Cuttack Guwahati Delhi and Jhansi area during last week Other than these developments Western Railway has also successfully refunded Rs 10272 crores against cancellation of tickets and in Mumbai Division itself refund of Rs 4822 crores has been made Likewise a total of 14304 trains have been cancelled including 6036 MailExpress trains and 8268 Passenger trainsAspecial health camp was held for trackmen at Chavaj station of Vadodara divisionTotal loss over W rly upto 26th March 2020 has been pegged at Rs 13566 Cr inclusive of suburban nonsuburban It is noteworthy to mention that suitable monitoring of all activities amp arrangements are being carried out by the Principal Head of Deptts along with their teams to cope with the situation and to ensure smooth implementation of all plans under the aegis of Shri Alok Kansal General Manager of Western Railway The above scenario portrays that Western Railway truly believes in the adage Work is Worship and this is reflected even in the tough times of lockdown due to Coronavirus Pandemic W Rly continues to serve the nation by lending its hand through essential service be it freight traffic or medical facility From security to engineering Western Railway is always geared to face whatever may be the situationCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates