NEW DELHI: Nearly 70,000 railway employees have received anti-coronavirus vaccine, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament on Wednesday.
Railway employees are being vaccinated in a phased manner, he said in response to a query.
In the first phase, the railways has begun vaccination of its healthcare workers and Railway Protection Force (RPF) employees.
More than 3.2 lakh frontline railway employees have been identified for vaccination in the next phase, he said.
"Till now, 18,964 Railway healthcare and 48,994 RPF employees have been vaccinated, 3,22,322 front line Railway employees have been identified for vaccination in the next phase," Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The railways continued operating its freight trains and began running special trains since March last year when the government announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The national carrier has lost 592 employees due to COVID-19 while 32,641 railway employees in total were affected by the disease.