First train from Delhi to reach Chennai tonight as TN, Railways lock horns

On Thursday night, the Tamil Nadu government will quarantine over 1,000 passengers as the first air-conditioned special train would bring them to Chennai from Delhi. The passengers will be screened at the railway station and sent directly to the quarantine facilities. Officers on the train have collected details of the passengers who can opt for either paid or institutional quarantine.

The train which departed from Delhi at 4 pm on Wednesday is scheduled to reach Chennai at 8.40 pm on Thursday and the passengers will be sent to quarantine centres as per their request. However, concerns mount for the state government as there could be an influx of new cases.

On May 12, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami shot a strongly-worded letter to Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. Palaniswami termed the Railways’ decision to send air-conditioned trains to Chennai as “unilateral”. Pointing out that the state is already overburdened with special shramik trains, flights and ships bringing stranded people from other parts of the country and abroad, he said, “When the lockdown is in force, prohibiting interstate passenger transport, operating these trains will further complicate our efforts to fight the spread of coronavirus.” 

He also said that all the passengers will have to be tested using RT-PCR kits as per Government of India protocol and people who show symptoms will have to be quarantined for 14 days. “When we are stretching ourselves with the existing case load, which is increasing by 500-600 cases per day, imposing a heavy burden on the state, operating these trains poses a serious challenge to our efforts,” he said. Asking the railway minister to keep the passengers in railway quarantine till their test results are obtained, he also requested that trains including high class Rajdhani express trains to Chennai be operated only after “ascertaining our capacity” to handle the incoming passengers.

However, Piyush Goyal shot back, saying that the railway infrastructure was developed for transportation of people and it cannot carry out quarantine and other actions as suggested by the chief minister. Goyal quoted the standard operating procedures issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on May 1 for movement of migrant workers, which had stipulated that the returnees shall be home quarantined in general and put into institutional quarantine based on medical assessment and their health status be monitored through the Aarogya Setu app on voluntary basis. He also said that “nowhere does it prescribe compulsory testing with RT-PCR as stated in your letter.”