New Delhi to join 'Clean Train Station scheme

New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) In a fortnight from now, passengers boarding long-distance trains at New Delhi station can afford to travel in spick and span coaches, thanks to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's 'Clean Train Station' (CTS) scheme.

Eureka Forbes, the private company that has been entrusted with the job of giving a clean look to long-distance superfast trains, today began 15-day operations on a trial basis under the CTS scheme.

Once the trial is over, New Delhi will become the country's 13th and Northern Railways' first 'Clean Train Station'.

The Railway Board had launched the CTS scheme in 2003 for providing international standard cleanliness to long distance trains between stations.

This scheme, which was launched at Ratlam station of the Western Railway, was subsequently extended to some other important stations after it received a positive feedback from travelling passengers.

Railway Ministry sources said that in the next 10-15 days, the scheme would be formally launched at New Delhi station.

Under the CTS scheme, private companies will clean the toilets, floor, window panes of AC coaches and corridors of long distance trains with the help of state of the art equipments. In addition, the companies have been given the responsbility of making announcements at the stations entrusted to them.

The sources said Eureka Forbes would also clean rail tracks on platforms and take care of drains, besides filling water tanks in coaches.

The company has installed a powerful diesel generator set of 65 kw for meeting power requirements of its operations.

The CTS scheme has so far been in operation ar ratlam, Bhusawal, Aasansol,Visakhapatnam, New Jalpaiguri, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Itarsi, Chennai, Trivandrum, Vijayawada and Ernakulam stations.

Other stations whether the scheme is to be introduced shortly include Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Jaipur, Erode, Tourkela, Bilaspur, Mughalsarai and Hubli.

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