Bengaluru: Indian Railways, which has a rich history of serving citizens for years together, has been working round the clock to ensure citizens do not run out of essential stock. 

The Railway ministry informs the citizens of the work it has been doing during the lockdown. 

The tweet reads: “Indian Railways has made parcel vans available for quick transportation of essential items in small parcel sizes to supplement the supply chain during the lockdown. Presently these trains are being operated on 65 routes; 507 trains have run till 14th April.”
It then adds: 

“Over 20,400 tonnes of consignments have been loaded since the start of these parcel trains in lockdown period and the earnings to Railways from it are about Rs 7.54 crores.” 


The Indian Railways had not been running any passenger trains during the lockdown period (March 24 to April 14) and will not run anymore during lockdown 2.0 as well. 

But all its trains transporting goods will run in order to meet supplies. 

The railways has also converted a number of its coaches into isolation wards to house quarantined people. 

Also Read: 20000 coaches to be made into isolation wards

Such contribution by the railways will certainly augment measures taken to stem the spread of the virus. 

Also Read: Railways converts coaches into isolation wards

A note on Lockdown 2.0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday that the lockdown will be extended till May 3, thereby making the entire lockdown period last a good 40 days. 

He also announced that on April 20, his government will look to ease more restrictions. 

Today (April 15) the Union home ministry released a set of guidelines informing the people about services that will be in place. The government has allowed farming, agriculture, farming, fisheries and freight transport to go on while it has not allowed educational institutions and passenger movement as they facilitate the spread of coronavirus.