The Indian Railways has got its passengers covered

IN THE PAST DECADE, India’s national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways, the Indian Railways, has struggled to stay on track.

In 1989, India Today wrote a special report scrutinizing the company, saying, “Indian Railways faces primitive maintenance methods, aging tracks, and machinery.”

Three decades later, it doesn’t seem to have improved. “Indian Railways goes from bad to worse over last 3 years on this critical score; passengers suffer,” Zee Business wrote.

But it’s finally ramping up efforts and trying to improve. This year, the Indian Railways decided to undertake major maintenance works across all its zones.

While this would inevitably cause delays, particularly during meal times, India’s Railway Minister Piyush Goyal promised passengers with reserved tickets will get free food and water.

The company also started offering free WiFi at over 700 stations.

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Recognizing that it’s important to keep the end user happy and as part of its strategy to boost hygiene in the AC coaches, the Indian Railways is also planning to phase out its blankets and replace them with new and better ones.

The company has been plagued with complaints of dirty blankets since 2017.

Here’s what we know about the upgrade so far:

• The old woolen blankets will be swapped for new woolen-nylon mix blankets to avoid smelling.
• The old woolen blankets were pegged at around Rs 400 per piece while the new ones are expected to cost almost double the price.
• The new blankets will be washed twice a month (as opposed to the current once-a-month cycle).
• The service life of blankets has been cut down to two years from the existing four-year cycle.
• Used blankets would be sanitized on a regular basis before being given for further use.
• The Indian Railways aims to provide washed blankets along with fresh linen in trains for “each journey”.

Currently, about 390,000 sets of linen are provided per day – two bedsheets, a towel, pillow, and a blanket – for each passenger in the AC classes.

Founded some 170 odd years ago, The Indian Railways is the fourth-largest railway network in the world by size, with trains running from the North to the South.

It operates some 9,000 passenger trains and carries nearly 23 million passengers every day.

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Source: travelwireasia.com