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Showing posts with label Laundry for Railways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laundry for Railways. Show all posts

Monday, 25 April 2016

19:44

The Ambala division of the Northern Railways has set up its first laundry unit

The Ambala division of the Northern Railways has set up its first laundry unit

Ambala div sets up  first laundry service

Armed with a one-tonne machine capable of washing, ironing and steaming, the laundry set up in Chandigarh Railway Station is a first in Ambala division.
The Ambala division of the Northern Railways has set up its first laundry unit in Chandigarh. This will help the railways to wash more than 8,000 bedsheets in a single day. Other than the bedsheets, the railways can now also wash blankets, and towels of its own- which were earlier done by an outsourced company.
Armed with a one-tonne machine capable of washing, ironing and steaming, the laundry set up in Chandigarh Railway Station is a first in Ambala division. “This is a mechanized machine. We have installed two washing machines of 100 kg and 50 kg each.
Both of them have a capacity to wash 350 bed sheets in an hour,” said a railways official, adding that such machines have earlier been installed in Lucknow and Jabalpur.


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Monday, 4 January 2016

07:30

To improve the aesthetic look of the coach - Indian Railways

To improve the aesthetic look of the coach - Indian Railways

Your Rajdhani train will now sport multi-coloured bed rolls, designed by NIFT

"It has been decided that the interiors of the coaches are changed including replacing the white colour bedrolls with multi-coloured ones," said a senior Railway Ministry official.

White bed sheets and pillow covers in trains are set to become a thing of the past as Railways is introducing multi-colour bedrolls designed by NIFT. Besides bedrolls, curtains of AC coaches are also being redesigned.

“It has been decided that the interiors of the coaches are changed including replacing the white colour bedrolls with multi-coloured ones. The newly-designed bedrolls will be introduced in one of the Rajdhani trains shortly,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The bedroll consists of two bed sheets, one pillow, a blanket and a hand towel. According to the new plan, barring hand towel, everything will be coloured. “NIFT was given the responsibility to design new coloured patterns for train travellers and it has sent an array of designs out of which we have selected two type of colours,” the official said.
Besides bedrolls, the colour of curtains will be also matching with the colour of bedsheets. The official said there will be new multi-coloured blankets now instead of regular blankets supplied in AC coaches. Railways provides about 3 lakh bedrolls daily for AC travellers.

The supply of multi-coloured bedrolls will cost Railways about 30 per cent more than what it spends now. It is a common complaint that the set of linen supplied to passengers are unhygienic, dirty and smelly.

Addressing the issue, Railways has undertaken steps to set up a state-of-the-art mechanised laundry at many stations. Continuing with new steps, Railways is also redesigning the seating arrangements in trains to improve the aesthetic look of the coach.


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Tuesday, 14 July 2015

18:55

Railways contemplate Disposable Linen for a Price; launches Online Survey to know passengers’ preference

Railways contemplate Disposable Linen for a Price; launches Online Survey to know passengers’ preference

New Delhi: Swamped by thousands of complaints regarding the supply of dirty linen on board trains, Indian Railways is contemplating introduction of disposable towels, pillow covers and maybe even bed sheets for a price. The railways has started an online survey to find out what people desire and how much they are willing to pay for a peaceful night’s rest while travelling. There have been instances when passengers have pointed to stains on bed sheets and pillow covers and demanded that these be replaced. Bedroll porters are known to throw up their hands in despair and show how all linen stocked in coaches are similarly soiled and crushed.

Earlier, zonal railways used to hire launderers to wash used linen. This resulted in chaos with many launderers failing to supply fresh bed sheets, pillow covers and towels on time. Those in charge of issuing bedrolls to passengers were then forced to recycle used linen. Now, Eastern Railway has set up a mechanized laundry at Tikiapara that has capacity to wash 4,000 bedrolls (8,000 bed sheets, 4,000 pillow covers and 4,000 towels) everyday. South Eastern Railway has also commissioned a similar laundry at Santragachi of 2,000 bedrolls capacity. This will be augmented to 6,000 bedrolls in the future.

“Given the number of trains and the increase in upper-class passengers, this may not be sufficient. Apart from regular bedrolls, there are plans to introduce disposable ones for people who are ready to pay extra. Regular bedrolls are supplied without any additional cost to air-conditioned passengers,” a senior officer in Delhi said.

The survey launched by the railways begins with the age group of the respondent, his or her occupation and the frequency of travel. Respondents must also reveal what class they travel in and whether they carry beddings along. The next set of questions is about the quality of bedrolls supplied on trains and satisfaction levels. The survey then wants to know whether respondents would prefer disposable linen.

“The survey goes beyond hygiene and cleanliness. Respondents are asked what quality of bed sheets they would prefer and even their choice of colour. The choices given are light colour, white or dark shades. People are also asked whether they would prefer printed bed sheets and the kind of pattern on them. The choices are large prints, small all over prints or geometric prints. Passengers can also say whether they prefer cotton, cotton polyester or polyester sheets,” the official said.

The final portion of the survey deals with whether passengers want disposable pillow covers. Respondents are also asked how much they are prepared to shell out. There are multiple choices. Passengers can choose Rs 60 and the maximum is between Rs 120 and Rs 150. The final question is whether passengers want the bedrolls to have fire retardant properties.
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Wednesday, 10 June 2015

06:01

Mineral-rich Jharkhand a priority for Railways: Prabhu

Mineral-rich Jharkhand a priority for Railways: Prabhu

Ranchi (RNC): Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched three key railway projects in the state and Odisha on Sunday and pledged to weave an intricate railway network in mineral-rich Jharkhand by 2018.

Prabhu opened the 16.5km third line between Sini and Rajkharsawan under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway. The minister also launched four additional loop line projects (in Harubera, Barkipona, Nagjua and Urma stations) that will ease railway traffic in the busy Muri-Barkakana, Ranchi-Lohardaga and Adra-Chandil lines.

“Jharkhand with its rich mineral reserves is crucial for India’s economy. Keeping that in mind, the state’s rail network will be improved in the next three years,” Prabhu said at the ceremony. He was accompanied by chief minister Raghubar Das.

The minister also inaugurated a DEMU passenger train between Rourkela and Sambalpur in Odisha and laid the foundation of an electric loco shed in Bondamunda, both under the South Eastern Railway (SER).

Prabhu, while inaugurating an automated laundry of 1 ton capacity in Ranchi station, promised Das to look into the demand for a direct train to Mughalsarai in Bihar via Patna, a daily express between Ranchi-Trivandrum via Chennai (that in turn would help patients heading to south India for treatment) and another daily between Ranchi-Dehradun.

However, the minister granted the CM’s demand to extend the Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express up to Jaipur. “It is important to finish the long standing projects,” Das told Prabhu. Prabhu said the railways is mulling to overhaul Ranchi into a world class station under PPP mode.

Prabhu also said the railways is working to establish base kitchen in every station and commission pantry cars in long distance trains.
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Thursday, 14 May 2015

08:46

Railways set up first laundry unit in Kerala

Railways set up first laundry unit in Kerala

Mechanised unit to be commissioned by Suresh Prabhu later this month

Complaints of stained or torn bed sheets, blankets, face towels, and soiled pillows distributed in upper class coaches of long distance trains originating from the State will be a thing of the past. The first high-tech mechanised laundry of Railways in the State has been set up near the Kochuveli terminal in the capital city under the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) mode.

The laundry, which has come up in 10,000 sq ft of Railway land leased out to a private firm, is providing bedrolls to eight mail and express trains originating from Thiruvananthapuram Central, Kochuveli terminal, and Nagercoil on trial basis.

Sunil Bajpai, Divisional Railway Manager, told The Hindu that the unit would be commissioned during the forthcoming visit of Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to the city later this month. The three-tonne capacity (per shift) automatic laundry involves steam wash and automatic drying, pressing and folding processes. The washer, dryer, and ironer have been imported from Sweden, and the folder from the Netherlands. Three hundred bedroll sets, each comprising two bed sheets, one pillow, and a face towel, weighing one kg, can be handled in a single shift.

Heavy washing is resorted to for removing stains and the steam from the boiler is used for drying and washing. Clean, pressed, and packaged linen in environment-friendly waterproof bags is made available to the linen room on platforms.

The Malappuram-based Orion Enterprises, which has developed the infrastructure at a cost of Rs.10 crore, runs the unit with 18 staff. An effluent treatment plant has also been set up at a cost of Rs.22 lakh to discharge the water from the unit as per Pollution Control Board norms. The venture, the second after Chennai in Southern Railways, is to keep off incompetent contractors and bring the laundry segment under Railways. Another laundry unit is to be set up in Ernakulam.

Source : The Hindu
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