Lok Sabha Question No. 5293 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-28
Subject: Facilities and Sanitation in Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: MURALI MOHAN MAGANTI, MD. BADARIDDOZA KHAN, PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5293 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2018

## FACILITIES AND SANITATION IN RAILWAYS

5293. SHRI M. MURALI MOHAN: SHRI MD. BADARUDDOZA KHAN: SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that passengers are facing a lot of difficulty due to improper maintenance of rail coaches, serving of rotten food,  lack  of  cleanliness,  improper  maintenance  of  toilets  and blankets etc. and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Railways has any concrete plan to strengthen the current system to improve the cleanliness and maintenance of rail coaches upto accepted standards;
- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether  the  railway  officials  have  been  directed  to  conduct surprise  checks  to  curb  the  above  problems  and  if  so,  the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5293 BY SHRI M. MURALI MOHAN, SHRI MD. BADARUDDOZA KHAN AND SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 28.03.2018 REGARDING FACILITIES AND SANITATION IN RAILWAYS

(a):  No,  Madam.    Maintenance  and  cleanliness  is  a  continuous process and every endeavour is made to ensure proper maintenance and keep the coaches including toilets in properly maintained and clean condition. Blankets are also cleaned at prescribed periodicity. However, a few complaints are received. All efforts are made by the Railways to address the complaints.

In its endeavour  to  provide  quality  and  hygienic  food to the passengers, Railways have developed and operationalized an institutionalized mechanism for monitoring of quality and hygiene of catering services through regular inspections at various levels so as to  address  catering  complaints.  However,  about  1290  complaints regarding  quality  of  food  has  been  reported  during  the  period 01.04.2017 to 31.01.2018. Suitable penal actions have been taken in all cases, which inter-alia, includes imposition of fine in 244 cases.

- (b)  &  (c):  Improvement  in  maintenance  and  cleanliness  of  train coaches is a continuous endeavor of the Indian Railways (IR).
- (1) Some of the policy decisions taken in this regard are:
- (i) Provision of dustbins in Non-AC coaches.
- (ii)
- Provision of mugs with chain in Non-AC coaches.
- (iii) Provision  of  Health  Faucets  in  AC  as  well  as  Non-AC Sleeper class coaches.
- (iv) Cleaning  of  coaches  of  trains  at  both  ends  including mechanized cleaning.
- (v) On  Board  House  Keeping  Service  (OBHS)  has  been provided in nearly 980 trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and other important long distance Mail/Express trains for cleaning of coach toilets, doorways,  aisles  and  passenger  compartments  during the run of the trains.
- (vi) On  demand  'Clean  My  Coach'  service  is  provided  on demand in nearly 970 important Superfast / Mail/Express long distance trains having OBHS.
- (vii) By  expanding  the  scope  of  'Clean  My  Coach'  /  Coach Mitra'  Service  has  been  provided  in  nearly  800  OBHS trains  as  a  single  window  interface  to  register  all
- (2)
- coach related requirements of passengers travelling in reserved coaches, such as cleaning, disinfection, linen, train lighting, air conditioning and watering of coaches.
- (viii) Clean Train Station (CTS)  scheme  has  also  been prescribed for limited mechanized cleaning attention to identified  trains  including  cleaning  of  toilets  during their scheduled stoppages enroute at nominated stations.
- (ix) Washing of bed linen (except blanket) provided for AC passengers  is  done  after  every  single  use.  Blankets were  being  cleaned  at  least  once  in  two  months. Prescribed  washing  frequency  of  blankets  has  been recently  increased  to  minimum  once  in  a  month.  To improve the quality of washing of bed linen, 59 mechanized laundries have been set up in the railways, covering  nearly  65%  of  linen  washing  requirement. Most of the remaining linen is also washed in outside mechanized laundries through contracts.
- IR is improving the interior of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design  coaches.  New  interiors  with  more  pleasing  colours, aesthetically  designed  fittings,  panelling,  improved  toilets,

etc. are being provided in the existing coaches by refurbishing them during Mid Life Rehabilitation (MLR). Work in 700 such Model rake coaches is being progressively carried out. Out of these, more than 100 Model rake coaches have already been turned out.

- (3) Various  premium  services  like  Humsafar,  Tejas,  Antyodaya and  coaches  like  Deen  Dayalu  and  Anubhuti,  which  have improved passenger amenities, have also been introduced in service.
- (4) IR has launched Project Swarn with the objective of significantly improving the passenger experience. In total, 14 Rajdhani and 15 Shatabdi trains will be covered.
- (5) For  the  assistance  of  visually  impaired  travellers,  Integrated Braille signage, i.e signage superimposed with Braille scripts, are being provided in the newly manufactured coaches of IR. Retrofitment  of  the  same  in  existing  coaches  has  also  been taken up in a phased manner.

(d):  Railway  officials  carry  out  regular  inspections  and  surprise checks  to  ensure  proper  maintenance  and  cleanliness  of  trains. Detailed  instructions/guidelines  have  been  issued  to  the  Zonal

Railways for  conducting  joint  inspections  by  Medical,  Commercial and concerned infrastructure maintenance departments to inspect each  and  every  catering  unit  (mobile  and  static)  including  base kitchens/cell  kitchens  on  all  Railway  divisions/zones.  Apart  from this,  regular  and  surprise  inspections  are  done  by  Food  Safety Officers, Designated officers and Joint Food Safety Commissioners. During the period 01.04.2017 to 31.01.2018, 40112 inspections have been carried out by various railway officials.

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