NEW DELHI: The Army has decided to move its men on special trains to meet the operational requirements of military formations near the northern and eastern borders in view of the extension of the lockdown till May 3.
The Army said on Thursday, “To meet the operational requirements of the northern and eastern borders, two military special trains are planned to be run.”
This will enable decongestion of Category A and Category B training establishments at Bangalore, Belgaum, Secundrabad and Gopalpur as well assist in operational preparedness of active formations deployed in the borders.
An Army officer said, “These trains are primarily for personnel who were undergoing training, doing courses or were on temporary duty and were stuck due to the countrywide lockdown to mitigate the spread of the virus.”
The Commando Training Centre (Belgaum), Air Defence College (Gopalpur) and Military College of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering (Secunderabad) are a few of the training establishments in these places.
The two trains will run on Thursday and Friday. The first train will originate on April 17 from Bangalore and pass through Belgaum, Secunderabad and Ambala before terminating at Jammu.
The second train will also originate at Bangalore on April 18 but will terminate at Guwahati. It will pass through Belgaum, Secunderabad, Gopalpur, Howrah and New Jalpaiguri.
“Only personnel due to rejoin units deployed in northern and eastern borders and having undergone mandatory quarantine period/found medically fit will be accommodated in these trains,” the Army said.
Keeping in mind future requirements for the movement of soldiers, the Army added, “Further coordination with the Ministry of Railways is in progress for planning additional trains in the coming weeks.”