Thiruvananthapuram: An independent survey has named Southern Railway the best in terms of train maintenance. Southern Railway has been ranked in the first position out of all the 16 Railways in other than premium category with a score of 736 out of a total of 1000.
The Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was entrusted by Ministry of Railways to carry out “Train Cleanliness Survey – 2018” of 209 important trains of Indian Railways. A three-part survey including Process Audit, Direct Observation and Passenger Feedback was designed in order to assess the cleanliness and sanitation conditions of the running trains. While the Audit was carried out by IRCLASS Systems and Solutions Pvt. Ltd., analysis of the Passenger Feedback survey was carried out by IPSOS Research Private Limited.
The first part of the survey focused on cleanliness and sanitation process at the washing lines and terminals / halts whereas direct observations included the parameters such as condition of toilets, seats and windows, doorways, gangways and Vestibules, condition of linen, pest management and waste management etc. For passenger feedback, a total of 100 passengers’ feedback was collected from premium category and 60 from ‘other than premium category’ trains.
Analysis of the trains was carried out in two categories – Premium category including Rajdhani, Shatbdi, Duranto trains and other than premium category including Sampark Kranti, Intercity, Jan Shatabdi and other important Mail / Express trains. While there were a total of 77 trains in the premium category, there were 132 trains in the other than premium category. A total of 4 trains in the premium category and 14 trains in other than premium category of S. Railway were included in the above list of 209 trains.
Results of the above survey have since been published. SOUTHERN RAILWAY has been ranked the first position out of all the 16 Railways in other than premium category with a score of 736 out of a total of 1000. In the premium category, Chennai Central – Mysuru Shatabdi of S. Railway with a score of 906/1000 has been ranked 3rd out of 26 in the country. Chennai Central – Coimbatore Shatabdi has been ranked 9th with a scope of 873 points against an All India average of 844. Another premium train Chennai – Nizamuddin Duranto has got a score of 764 against All India average of 739.
In other than premium category trains, two Inter-city trains of Southern Railway were selected out of a total of 20 inter-city trains over Indian Railways. Both the above trains of Southern Railway, i.e. KSR Bangaluru – Ernakulam and Chennai Central – Coimbatore have bagged first and second position of the total 20 trains, scoring 789 and 782 respectively against an all India average of 627.
On the Jan Shatabdi front, a total of four trains of Southern Railway were selected out of a total of 19 trains over Indian Railways. In this category also, two trains of Southern Railway i.e. Trivandrum – Kozhikode and Chennai Central – Vijayawada bagged 2nd and 3rd position respectively scoring 766 and 738 against all India average of 613.
In other important Mail / Express trains category, 7 trains of Southern Railway were selected out of a total of 73 trains over Indian Railways. In this category also, Southern Railway based trains Tirupati – Jammu Tawi has bagged first position with a score of 885 and Chennai Egmore – Mangalore Central has been ranked 4th with a score of 849. Southern Railway has bagged overall ranking of 2nd in other Mail / Express trains category scoring an average of 769 against an All India average of 684.
With the above outstanding performance on the cleanliness front by Southern Railway the chances of Southern Railway getting the “Train Cleanliness” Shield during the forthcoming Railway Week Awards 2019 are bright.
