Bhopal Shatabdi: chalti hai ek dum hawa ke mafik, speed aisi ke ruka de traffic - Varun

Disgusted at the sight of shabby coaches, stinking toilets and non-functional fans and lights in trains? The immediate thought that crosses one’s mind on seeing such compartments is: ‘are the railways cleaning the coaches at all?’
One cannot always blame the railways as most of us must have come across ‘irresponsible’ passengers, who throw waste at will and soil the toilets, with scant respect for cleanliness and hygiene. The railway officials, on their part, say it’s mandatory to wash the rakes and undertake primary maintenance after each and every trip!
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work round-the-clock in three shifts at the Integrated Coaching Complex at Marripalem here to attend to the primary maintenance and cleaning of rakes. All the 25 trains, originating from Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of Waltair Division, undergo primary maintenance and Intermediate Overhaul (IOH) here.
The 5-pit Coaching Complex, which can handle up to 26-coach trains, was opened in 2008. Prior to that there were ‘washing lines’ at Visakhapatnam railway station. The washing lines were in use for several decades before they were dismantled to pave the way for construction of additional platforms to meet the growing needs of Visakhapatnam, the second largest city after Hyderabad in combined Andhra Pradesh.
Coming back to the Coaching Complex, both cleaning and primary maintenance are done at the complex. “The five pit lines can hold up to 700 coaches. Fumigation and pest control treatment is also done to destroy rats and cockroaches in the coaches. The cleaning, pest-control and bed-linen supply is outsourced but is done under the supervision of railway officials. We have 464 employees, including 24 supervisors and four clerical staff, who work in three shifts at the complex,” Divisional Mechanical Engineer Shakeel Ahmed told The Hindu.