Vande Bharat train gets cleaned in 14 minutes
Indian Railways Sunday said it has introduced the ‘14 minute clean-up’ milestone for every Vande Bharat trains from October 1, emulating the rapid cleaning procedures followed in Japan for bullet train, where the trains are cleaned in seven minutes.
Vande Bharat trains will be covered under the “14-minute miracle” scheme which is set to be launched on October 1 at Terminal Stations across Indian Railways as part of the ‘Swachhata-Hi-Seva’ campaign, ANI reported citing sources in Ministry of Railways.
“We want all the trains to be cleaned in 14 minutes but we are starting with the Vande Bharat as of now. A total of four staff would be deployed in every Vande Bharat coach. The cleaning staff has not only been trained for over a month to execute this initiative but also have had mock drills,” a senior railways official said.
This step is a big step as it otherwise takes around three hours to clean a train, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The railway minister said that the initiative is based on the concept of ‘7 minutes of miracle’ in Japan, where bullet trains are cleaned and made ready.
He said the initiative is being undertaken to improve punctuality and turnaround time. “It is a unique concept and happening for the first time in the Indian railways,” the railway minister said.
Over 200,000 lakh people participated in around 2,050 activities involving 685,883 man-hours, according to the railways.