IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDUCATURE AT BOMBAY

ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

PIL-Cl-LD-VC-14 of 2020

NARESH KAPUR ........ PETffiONER

VERSUS

UNION OF INDA &. ORS ........ RESPONDENTS

SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF UNION OF INDIA, CENTRAL &. WESTERN RAILWAYS IN COMPLIANCE WITH ORDER

DATED 23.06.2020

I Rupesh Kohli, Chief Rolling Stock Engineer of Central Railway

do hereby state on solemn affirmation as under:

I am conversant with the issues raised in the PIL and on the

basis of information available with my office and information

obtained from Western Railway, in compliance with the

directions of Hon'ble Court by Order dated 23.06.2020, I submit

as under:

A.STEPS TAKEN TO CONVERT COACHES INTO

ISOLATION QUARANTINE COACHES:

• As per Railway Board letter no. 2019/M©/202/1 dated

31.03.2020, Central Rallway and Western Railway have

modified 482 and 410 non-air conditioned coaches

respectively into Isolation facll'

2-

• Followlng changes have been done In the coaches as

Instructed In above mentioned letter:

► Middle Berths are removed from coaches

► 1 Lavatory In each coach has been modified for

bathroom.

► First cabin near bathing room shall be used as store or

paramedics area.

► Two oxygen cylinders will be provided by Medical

Department near first cabin.

• There are nine cabins In each coach.

• Tentative Placement plan of Rakes is as under:

Central railway:

Tentative Placement Division Total Rakes

(Stations)

Mumbai 2 Rakes

(CR) ( 40 Coaches) Igatpuri-1, Panvel-1

3 Rakes SPARE

( 60 Coaches)

3 Rakes Pune (CR)

(60 Coaches) Pune-2 & Miraj-1

Bhusawal 4 Rakes Bhusawal-2, Amaravati-1 &

(CR) (80 Coaches) Nasik Road-1

9 Rakes Solapur-2, Pandharpur-2,

Solapur Daund-1, Shirdi-2, Latur-1 &

(CR) (180 Coaches) Kalaburgi-1

Nagpur 3 Rakes Nagpur-1, Amala-1 &

(CR) (60 Coaches) Wardha-1 -

Western Railway:

Division Total Rakes Tentative coaches

Placement available

(Stations) other than

Rakes

MUMBAI 5 Rakes Mumbai Central- (52

(WR) (100 Coaches) 2, Valsad-1 & coaches)

Bandra

Terminus-2,

VADODARA 2 Rakes SPARE NIL (WR) ( 40 Coaches)

RATLAM 4 Rakes Ratlam-4 NIL (WR) (78 Coaches)

AHMED ABAD 3 Rakes Ahmedabad-2 & (01 Coach) (WR) ( 59 Coaches) Gandidham-1 RAJKOT 1 Rakes Rajkot-1 NIL (WR) (20 Coaches)

BHAVNAGAR 3 Rakes Bhavnagar-3 NIL (WR) ( 60 Coaches)

• These coaches may be used in areas where State

Governments has exhausted the facilities and need to

augment capacities for COVID Care Centers. So far no

request has been received from the State Governments for

its utilization. As and when any request is received, these

coaches will be made available for operation of isolation

facility by the State Governments.

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B, WHY ICU FACILITY IN COACHES WAS NOT

CONSIDERED NECESSARY IN THE COACHES?

• These coaches are planned to be used as COVID Care

Centers to provide isolation/quarantine facility to the

suspected/confirmed mild/yery mild Covid-19 patjents

and not to be used as hospital as per advice of MoHFW.

• In case of change of symptoms/clinical conditions, person

to be shifted to hospitals for further management.

• Conversion of coaches to ICU Is not possible without

extensive structural modifications & major changes. These

changes would need detailed design and can be done only

in units with elaborate manufacturing facilities.

• Since the Converted coaches were designed/ meant to

serve only very mild Covid positive patients or only as

isolation centers, no ICU type facilities were felt essential

or are available in the converted coaches.

• Isolation facility in coaches is temporary arrangement till

railway becomes regularly operational and the modification

is reversible to make the coaches again fit for use for

passenger services. If major structural changes are carried

out, immediate re-use of these coaches as normal

passenger coaches may also be not possible without major

~f ;~;;t ,~once the regular train services starts. ' / ~ ~ -............._ l

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• Further conversion of non AC coaches to ICU may require

major structural changes, which are practically not

possible.

• Hence ICU facility in coaches was not considered

necessary.

Hon'ble High Court may kindly appreciate the above facts and

submissions.

Submitted on 29th day of June, 2020

Advocate for

Union of India

j~0 u/w\P, (Rupesh Kohli)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDUCATURE AT BOMBAY

ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

PIL-CJ-LD-VC-14 of 2020

NARESH KAPUR •••••••• PETITIONER

VERSUS

UNION OF INDA & ORS •••••••• RESPONDENTS

SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF UNION OF INDIA, CENTRAL &

WESTERN RAILWAYS IN COMPLIANCE WITH ORDER

DATED 23.06.2020

Flied on 29th day of June, 2020

Advocate D P Singh

Advocate for

Union of India

' ....