Cleanliness of Tiruchi railway junction, a major station in Southern Railway zone that has been witnessing a steady rise in passenger movements and earnings, is to brought under the scrutiny of a third party.
Representatives from Quality Council of India nominated by the Railway Board, New Delhi, will inspect Tiruchi junction soon to ascertain first hand the level of cleanliness at the station and its vicinity.
The third party audit exercise is to be conducted on the instruction of the Railway Board, which will later release a detailed list containing the ranking of major stations at the all-India level based on cleanliness for 2019.
The proposed inspection will be carried out based on a set of parameters that includes physical examination of the level of cleanliness at the station; ongoing cleaning works undertaken on the platforms, track and circulating areas of the station; interaction with station manager, vendors and passengers to obtain their feedback besides perusal of documents submitted by Tiruchi Railway Divisional authorities in this regard, say senior railway officers.
The dates for the impending inspection of Quality Council of India representatives at the junction will be conveyed to railway officials at the eleventh hour in order to maintain the surprise element, say the officers.
A NSG-III station, Tiruchi junction saw a spurt in originating number of passengers in 2018-19- with the increase being 13.58% as compared to the 2017-18 financial year.
Correspondingly, this major station also witnessed a rise in annual originating passenger earnings in the 2018-19 fiscal. The earnings crossed ₹100-crore mark, according to railway statistics.
The proposed inspection will come at a time when the junction is undergoing an end-to-end station redevelopment project at a cost of ₹27 crore which includes construction of an eighth platform at Kallukuzhi second entry side and a host of other works aimed at improving the ambience of the station.
According to a senior railway officer, Tiruchi junction is ranked 10th at the Southern Railway Zonal level in respect of cleanliness in 2018.
Villupuram junction, which comes under Tiruchi Railway Division was the topper last year. Kumbakonam was placed fourth at the zonal level and the seventh spot went to Mayiladuthurai junction.
The third party audit by a two-member team of Quality Council of India began at Thanjavur railway junction on Tuesday. The inspection is for two days.
Similar third party audits to ascertain the level of cleanliness have already been conducted at Kumbakonam, Villupuram, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai railway stations for 2019.
Only last month Tiruchi junction received ISO 14001:2015 certification for environmental management system.
Efforts are on to obtain similar ISO certifications complying with an order of the National Green Tribunal for six more stations: Thanjavur, Villupuram, Puducherry, Kumbakonam, Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam falling under the jurisdiction of Tiruchi railway division.
