In yet another step in line with the Indian Railways Cleanliness Drive “Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat”, the Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu today (11.03.2016) launched “Clean My Coach” Service through Video Conferencing from Rail Bhawan with New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway and Lucknow Jn/North Eastern Railway. Shri Manoj Kumar Sinha, Minister of State for Railways was especially present on the occasion. On behalf of the Indian Railways, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital, Member Mechanical Shri Hemant Kumar and other Board Members were present on the occasion. Several Public representatives and Senior officials from the sides of New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway & Lucknow Jn /North Eastern Railway Stations participated in the occasion. This ‘Clean My Coach’ service was announced by the Railway Minister in his Rail Budget Speech of 2016-17 and today it has been implemented as an immediate Action on Rail Budget 2016-17.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that as the Railways is connected with every citizen of this country, it is all the more necessary for the Railways to maintain clean environment in its premises. Thus, dustbins have also been put in the non-AC coaches. He said that as the Railway operates in open boundaries and thus it is the equal responsibility of the Railway Administration and Citizens of the country to maintain cleanliness in and around railway premises. He said that foreign tourists who come to see India, should take good memories of comfort travelling in Indian trains. He further said that Indian Railways is on the Fast Track in the field of Digitalization, Cleanliness, Passenger Amenities, Coach Designs, Mechanized Laundries, On Board Services, Social Media etc. He assured more passenger friendly services in the near future for better travelling experience in trains.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha said that the Indian Railways has adopted Prime Minister’s “Swachh Bharat Campaign” in a big way. Indian Railways is improving day in and day out for satisfaction of the passengers. He said that launching of ‘Clean My Coach’ Service itself fixes responsibility of On Board Staff to ascertain cleanliness Trains. He said that Indian Railways who works as team will leave no stone unturned to bring the Railways at world standard.
Salient Features of ‘Clean My Coach Service’
Vide para 68 (i) of the Budget speech of Minister of Railways, it was announced to introduce a service ‘Clean My Coach’ on pan India basis. As per the scheme, for any cleaning requirement in the coach, passenger sends an SMS on a mobile number 58888. Alternatively, passenger can also use android app ‘Cleanmycoach Indian Railways’ or webpage ‘cleanmycoach.com’ for logging the request. Passenger’s request is immediately acknowledged via SMS on mobile phone along with a code. A message is also sent by the server to the mobile number of On Board House Keeping (OBHS) staff travelling on the same train along with the details of the passengers such as coach number, berth number. OBHS staff contacts the passengers, carries out the cleaning work as per demand. If the passenger is satisfied, he discloses the code received during acknowledgement and OBHS staff in turn sends the same code through SMS and the complaint is then treated as closed. If the passenger is not satisfied, he/she doesn’t disclose the code and the complaint is treated as not closed.
This service empowers the citizen to get an important service on board and is in line with the objectives of the Digital India Programme launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. Besides, by ensuring cleaning of coaches same is also contributing to Mission Swachh Bharat, also launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. This scheme has been tried out on 43 divisions across Indian Railways. With formal launching of this initiative for roll out on pan India basis, trains originating from other 24 divisions shall also be covered in the current year. Ministry of Railways launched this ‘Clean My Coach’ initiative today on 11.03.2016 at New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway and Lucknow Jn/North Eastern Railway.