SET FOR A CHANGE

Pvt agencies to clean trains, stations

V Ayyappan | TNN

Dec 27, 2009:

Chennai: Railway stations and long-distance trains are likely to be a lot cleaner if Southern Railway has its way in the coming year. Private agencies will be engaged for onboard housekeeping (OBHK) on trains and also to clean railway stations.
The decision was taken following persistent complaints from passengers that railway stations are littered with plastic cups, wrappers and other waste while long-distance trains get dirty during the journey.
Southern Railway has invited tenders from interested agencies to bid for OBHK on long-distance trains that start from Chennai Central and Egmore stations. The Indian Railways has allowed its zonal offfices to post staff on trains to clean coach interiors as well as toilets by outsourcing jobs.
As part of efforts to keep railway stations clean, tenders will soon be floated to select agencies to collect waste material from important railway stations such as Central, Egmore, Katpadi, Jolarpet and Melmaravathur. The arrangement will be gradually extended to other stations, especially suburban.
“The OBHK plan envisages workers travelling on trains and cleaning toilets. Currently, there is no provision to clean the toilets when the train is on the move. Dirty toilets cause a lot of inconvenience to travellers, especially on trains that take more than a day to reach the destination,” said Chennai divisional railway manager, S K Kulshrestha.
Under pressure to introduce more trains using the existing number of coaches, the Railway Board has stipulated that primary maintenance should be done only after a train runs 3,500 km. Several trains that do not complete the 3,500-km mark are cleaned at the railway station platforms. With most railway stations ill-equipped to carry out a thorough job, toilets are not cleaned often.
“If the rakes come late, the turnaround time gets reduced. So, we water and conduct a perfunctory cleaning of toilets,” said a railway staff at the Central station. OBHK aims at preventing such constraints.
In other railway zones, private agencies have been engaged to sweep coaches of trains passing through,” an official said.
“Workers of a private agency swept clean the floors of coaches on the second day of the journey on the Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express,” said A Anusha, a passenger on the train.
ayyappan.v@timesgroup.com