The Southern Railway has intensified onboard housekeeping services (OBHS) in long distance express and mail trains in all the six divisions.
As part of maintaining cleanliness in the trains, the Southern Railway has appointed OBHS in 78 out of the 85 trains it operates, said Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer B. Guganesan.
Pointing out the various steps being taken for keeping the trains garbage-free and maintaining them with passenger amenities like adequate water, clean toilets and pest and rodent management, the Railways has provided OBHS for 78 trains with the provision for the remaining seven trains, operated by Palghat and Trivandrum divisions, under process. The 78 trains, coming under Chennai, Tiruchi, Salem and Madurai divisions, have OBHS facilities, he added.
The OBHS comes in the wake of complaints received from passengers about inadequate maintenance of coaches since the normalised train operations after COVID-19 lockdown.
The Southern Railway has put in place a comprehensive garbage collection system by nominating 13 stations, including Chennai Central and Egmore, identifying worst performing trains, appointing division officers for monitoring and improving the facilities in the worst performing trains, conducting pre-departure checks to avoid complaints and imposing penalties on OBHS firms for complaints registered.
Regarding a complaint received from the headmaster of St. Thomas High School of Kondapur about the pathetic condition of the coaches — untidy coach, inadequate water in toilets and unclean toilet seats — in the Erode Nanded express during a trip with 69 students recently, officials said the complaint was investigated and operational issues were found at Erode.
The division officials have been advised that rakes for the trains should be made available only after the coaches are thoroughly attended by providing adequate water and cleaning operations carried out.
