Visakhapatnam railway station, which bagged the top spot among the A-1 grade stations in India in the ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’ rankings in 2017, has slipped to 84th rank this year. The top positions were bagged by Jaipur, a non-suburban grade-2 (NSG-2) category station, followed by Jodhpur (NSG-2) and Durgapura (NSG-4).
Vijayawada railway station (NSG-2), which bagged the 7th rank this year, is the only station in the State to have made it to the top 10 list.
Modalities blamed
However, the officials blame the slip in the rank of Visakhapatnam to the modalities of ranking system. “In 2017 and 2018, ranks were given to A-1 and A grade stations separately. But this year, all the stations were mixed up. There were only two categories this year—Non-suburban grade and suburban grade stations.
“There is no logic in comparing a major station such as Visakhapatnam with a footfall of over 75,000 a day with a small station such as Simhachalam,” an official of Waltair railway division said on the condition of anonymity.
This year, the survey was done in five stages—process evaluation, direct observation, citizens’ feedback, station manager’s interview and ‘Green Railway Station’ scoring. The last point of assessment was scoring. The parameters and the marks allocated are as follows: green cover at railway station (5 marks), liquid waste management (25 marks), solid waste management (30 marks), energy management (30 marks), ISO and green certification (10 marks).
According to the officials, Cyclone Fani had caused disruptions and delays in the movement of trains when the survey team came to Visakhapatnam. Several trains were stranded at the railway station as they were either cancelled or diverted due to submersion of track at some places in Odisha.
“We got less marks this year as the circulating area at the station was limited as the redevelopment works were on when the survey team arrived. We wanted to complete the works before the visit, but it did not happen. The mixing up of different categories of stations also worked to our disadvantage,” Waltair Senior Divisional Commercial Manager G. Suneel Kumar told The Hindu on Thursday.
“Visakhapatnam station would have secured the 19th rank, if the competition was among the same category (NSG-2) stations. We, however, got the overall 4th rank in the green score,” he added.
