Special train No.971 to Ubon Ratchathani departed from Rangsit railway station on Tuesday morning, taking 135 Covid-19 patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms back to their homes in the lower Northeast.
It was the first special train organised to transport a group of Covid-19 patients to their home provinces.
Under a July 20 cabinet resolution, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Health were instructed to arrange transport for Covid-19 infected patients who needed to return to their home provinces.
The ministries were told to cooperate with the National Health Security Office and National Institute of Emergency Medicine.
The first trip, which was scheduled to depart from Rangsit station in Pathum Thani at 9am, was postponed and left the station at noon yesterday.
The delay was because rail officials spent longer than expected picking up patients from their homes to take them to the station, said Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who yesterday attended a ceremony ahead of the train's departure.
Mr Anutin said 36 patients were seated in each carriage observing social-distancing protocols under the care of 12 doctors and nurses posted throughout the train.
The train was scheduled to drop patients off at Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Lam Chi in Surin, Nong Waeng in Si Sa Ket and Warin Chamrap in Ubon Ratchathani.
The Covid-19 patients were returning home to seven provinces -- Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket, Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon and Amnat Charoen.
Each patient was to be picked up at their respective stations by local health officials and taken to designated hospitals, he said.
A special 14-carriage train was scheduled to leave Bangkok on Monday with 1,489 Covid-19 patients on the same route.
It was cancelled after officials found out on Sunday that most of the people who had booked places on the train had already returned home in ambulances, rescue vehicles or on chartered buses.
At Rangsit railway station, Mr Anutin also dismissed a recent report that the government plans to shut down Bang Sue Grand Station vaccination centre, Bangkok's vaccination hub.
Mr Anutin said there was no truth in the report and that the vaccination centre, which was working well in serving people, would remain open.
"So people should not worry about it," he said.