Forty-eight days after the Railways suspended its operations following the countrywide lockdown to prevent COVID-19 spread, the first passenger train carrying 1,100 passengers arrived at the Udhampur railway station in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday from Bengaluru.
The train arrived in Udhampur at 11.30 am with passengers, including students, labourers, and businessmen, from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded in Karnataka since March, reports said. Authorities had made elaborate arrangements to ensure passengers maintain social distance.
More than 900 passengers hailed from Kashmir Valley while the rest were from the Jammu division and Union Territory of Ladakh.
Upon reaching their hometowns, these passengers will be screened and put under administrative quarantine until they are tested negative.
An official spokesman while confirming the arrival of the stranded passengers from Bengaluru said all protocols were framed and procedure established for returnees district wise. “All these passengers were screened before boarding the train in Bangaluru,” he said.
The J&K government has decided to use the RTPCR method for testing all people returning to the Union Territory. “All passengers arriving by train or any other means into the UT of Jammu and Kashmir shall be 100 percent tested using the RTPCR method for which the Health and Medical Education Department is making the necessary arrangements,’’ read a government order issued by UT Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam.