Railway passengers travelling by the Rani Chennamma Express will soon be able to book meals by SMS.Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Divisional Railway Manager of South Western Railway, Hubli Division, Praveen Kumar Mishra said that the new facility would be introduced on a pilot basis soon. Mr. Mishra has completed his term as DRM of Hubli Division and has been transferred. His place will be taken by Rahul Jain, who is expected to assume charge on Monday.Mr. Mishra said that the pilot project had been designed keeping in mind the convenience of the public. Passengers on the Rani Chennamma Express will get the facility first and depending on the response the service would be expanded to other trains, he said. Following complaints about the bedroll linen management, which is currently outsourced, Mr. Mishra said that it had been decided to take over the responsibility: “It will be the responsibility of...
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the division to improve bedroll linen management. A mechanised laundry is being set up in Hubli.” Mr. Mishra said that with the objective of increasing cleanliness, the division had introduced onboard housekeeping services (OBHS) on three trains to improve hygiene and cleanliness of coaches, and added that the OBHS would be introduced in two more trains. Mr. Mishra said that while the division had registered an increase of 5 per cent growth in passenger earnings (Rs. 71.57 crore) over the previous financial year, it had also registered a growth of 19.70 per cent in freight earnings (Rs. 765.15 crore as of July). He said that despite the ban on the export of iron ore in July 2010 and the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court on mining in Karnataka and transportation of the ore, the Hubli Division had been able to compensate for the loss in freight traffic by exploring the potential of new commodities. Mr. Mishra said that steps had been taken to meet the long-pending demand of introducing passenger trains on the Hospet-Kottur section.