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)