Truth with Substance
Railways
By M.Y.Siddiqui
Supply of bedrolls or linen forms an important passenger amenity in air-conditioned coaches of trains and long distance trains. Management of linen in a particular train is by the owning department of the respective train. Items provided are bed sheets, pillow covers, blankets and face towels. Bed sheets, pillow covers and face towels are washed after every use and blankets on a monthly basis. Presently, washing of linen is done through outsourcing by the Zonal Railways.
Railway passengers are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the provision of linen. Unclean and in hygienic linen supplied on board the trains are the major complaints. It is learnt from the official sources in the Ministry of Railways that rates for washing of linen have not been revised for a long time and remuneration for the same is inadequate. This affects adversely the washing of linen, which certainly points to travelling public’s concern with linen management. At the same time, with the kind of service providers available, the railways are not able to get a proper output from them.
In view of such nauseating problem of passenger dissatisfaction vis-à-vis unclean and unhygienic linen provided on board the trains, continuing unabated, Indian Railways have taken a new initiative of creating its own laundries. To begin with, it has set up a mechanized laundry in Mumbai.
A state-of-the-art fully mechanized departmental mega laundry has been set up at Wadibunder Coaching Depot of the Central Railway as a pilot project to improve the quality of linen supplied to passengers in air-conditioned coaches of trains, long distance trains and retiring rooms. This has resulted in the marked improvement in the standards of cleanliness and hygiene in the linen being supplied to passengers in trains on the Central Railway. This has brought down drastically complaints of passengers regarding bedrolls.
Encouraged by the Mumbai based pilot project for clean and hygienic linen on the trains, the Ministry of Railways has decided to start similar mechanized laundries across the railway network in the country. The railways have realized it has problems with linen and it cannot be outsourced, as the service providers do not have equipment, machinery and the facility to do this kind of mass washing activity.
Having been inspired by hotels and hospitals where washing of linen is done in bulk, Indian Railways have decided to harness the latest technology by putting up mechanized laundries on its own. This also follows a comprehensive study of linen management by a group of senior railway officials in the health care and hospitality sectors.
As a sequel to this, Zonal Railways have identified 56 major coaching depots locations for setting up of mechanized laundries. Twenty of the identified laundries have already been commissioned and 8 to 10 more such laundries are being set up during the current fiscal year 2013-14.
With all the mechanized laundries becoming functional in the times to come, the travelling public on the railways will enjoy clean and hygienic linen in tune with the globalized Indian economy. To this effect, passenger complaints against unclean and in hygienic linen in trains and retiring rooms at railway stations would be minimized considerably.
Indian Railways is one of the largest railways of the world, functioning as a vertically integrated organization to provide passenger and freight services. It carries 25 million passengers and hauls 2.5 million tons of freight daily over 64,410 route kilometers. The sheer volume of passenger traffic makes it incumbent on the Railways to provide passenger friendly efficient services to the nation!