Chennai: Two trains from Kerala, KSR Bangaluru – Ernakulam Intercity Express and Trivandrum – Kozhikode Jan Shatabdi Express, have bagged top ranks in the Train Cleanliness Survey – 2018 conducted by the Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
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, analysis of the Passenger Feedback survey was carried out by IPSOS Research.
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 the condition of toilets, seats and windows, doorways, gangways and Vestibules, the 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, Shatabdi, 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.
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 1,000. 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. KSR Bangaluru – Ernakulam has bagged the first position of the total 20 trains, scoring 789 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, Trivandrum – Kozhikode bagged 2nd position scoring 766 against all India average of 613.