The Minister of Railways Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal has announced several measures taken/proposed to be taken for improving passengers’ travel experience. These are:

i. Identification of 104 stations, serving a population of more than one mission or those serving places of religious/tourist importance for immediate attention to all aspects related to cleanliness;

ii. Progressive extension of bio-toilets on trains;

iii. Provision of concrete aprons on platforms with mechanized cleaning facilities. 200 stations have already been covered;

iv. Extension of On Board Housekeeping Scheme (OBHS) and Clean Trains Stations (VTSs) to more stations and trains;

v. Extension of unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), Coin-operated Ticket Vending Machines (CO-TVMs) and scheme of Jan-Sadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBSs);

vi. Setting up of six more Rail Neer bottling plants at Vijayawada, Nagpur, Lalitpur, Bilaspur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad;

vii. Launching of a pilot project on select trains to facilitate passengers to contact on-board staff through SMS/phone call/e-mail for prompt response for coach cleanliness and also to provide real time feedback;

viii. Setting up of 8-10 more mechanized laundries for quality washing of linen;

ix. Provision of announcement facility and electronic display boards in trains for disseminating information to on-board passengers about approaching stations, train running, arrival platforms, etc;

x. Providing free Wi-Fi facility on several trains to cater to the increasing aspirations and requirement of youth and other valued customers;

xi. Upgrading another 60 stations as Adarsh Stations in addition to 980 already selected;

xii. Associate voluntary organizations for providing first aid services etc. at railway stations.

MKP/AD/DB

(Release ID :92497)

Passenger amenities improvement expands cleanliness, bio-toilets, mechanised cleaning and digital services to enhance travel experience. The Ministry announced a programme to improve passenger amenities and cleanliness by installing bio-toilets, providing concrete platform aprons with mechanized cleaning, expanding On Board Housekeeping and Clean Train/Station schemes, piloting direct passenger-to-staff real time feedback channels, adding mechanized laundries and bottled water plants, introducing onboard announcement and electronic displays and free Wi Fi on selected trains, and extending automated and assisted unreserved ticketing systems alongside station upgradation and voluntary organisation partnerships for first aid services.