Six East Coast Railway trains part of railways’ onboard services reform

Bhubaneswar: Six busy long-distance trains of East Coast Railway (ECoR), including the Bhubaneswar-Bengaluru Prashanti Express, were selected for the Indian Railways’ new ‘Better Onboard Services’ reform aimed at improving cleanliness and passenger amenities, including in general coaches.Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced a plan to roll out ‘52 reforms in 52 weeks’, with ‘Better Onboard Services’ as the first initiative.In the first phase, 80 long-distance, high-footfall trains across the country were identified for implementation over the next six months. The programme is planned for expansion across all trains over the next three years, with train selection based on field inputs and operational criteria, said the sources.According to an official statement, cleaning — previously focused largely on reserved coaches — would now fully include general coaches. The existing station-based cleaning system would be replaced with a continuous cleaning model from the train’s origin to its destination.During the journey, teams would continuously address toilet hygiene, garbage removal, water availability and minor electrical or mechanical issues such as faulty lights to improve the onboard environment.

Sources said professional, technology-enabled teams would be hired under Service Level Agreements that define cleaning frequency, with higher frequency during peak hours and lower frequency during non-peak hours. Services would include continuous toilet cleaning, waste disposal, interior cleaning and linen handling.At designated stations, staff deployed in reserved coaches would also move into general coaches to maintain cleaning standards comparable to reserved coaches.The reform also includes the creation of control room centres to monitor cleaning through AI-generated images. AI-based assessment would be used to verify compliance and action would be taken in cases of lapses, said railway sources.“Multi-tasking teams would be deployed to handle minor mechanical and electrical repairs alongside cleaning, enabling integrated onboard service delivery,” said ECoR chief public relations officer Deepak Rout here on Sunday.