Uniform for staff, battery-operated portable vacuum cleaners and backpack-type high pressure jet cleaning machines — and a new deadline of 10 minutes. The Railways has revamped its clean train station (CTS) scheme to improve the cleaning process of trains with minimal disruption to operations. The CTS was launched by the Ministry of Railways in October 2002 to meet the demand for cleaner train coaches and toilets. It entails a mechanised en route cleaning of trains during halts at identified stations on major trunk routes. Its revamped version, to be implemented at 20 designated locations for 683 trains, will see four toilets (of two adjoining coaches) including washbasins allotted to two staff members. The staff will also collect garbage from the dustbins and carry out mechanised jet cleaning and dry mopping of areas including the toilet floor. The cleaners will be provided with portable backpack-type, battery operated, self-contained high pressure jet cleaning machines with self-contained water tanks of suitable capacity (10-15 litres); battery-operated portable vacuum cleaners, suitable ergonomic brushes for wash basins, absorbent mops for wiping floors, etc. According to a Ministry letter, dated June 12, 2025, to the general managers of all zonal railways, “To increase the efficiency of cleaning staff for a hands-free operation while cleaning, the outer apron and trousers to be provided with suitably sized, adequate number of pockets for carrying brushes and chemical bottles.” “The entire process is required to be completed within 10 minutes, including deboarding/onboarding of passengers and all cleaning activities,” the letter said, adding that water filling/ top-up in the coaches should also be ensured at these proposed CTS locations within the same duration. Ministry officials said the decision to revamp the CTS was taken after a pilot study conducted by the Northern Railway. They said the Railway Board, the top decision making body of the Ministry of Railways, reviewed the different aspects of the scheme, such as redefining of workstations, reworking on time-consuming processes, improvising tools and equipment, refining workflow, etc. “Post the review of the trial outcome, it has been decided with the approval of the Board to implement the revamped CTS scheme for the following 20 CTS locations for 683 identified trains, having halt time of 10 minutes or more," the Ministry’s letter to the general managers said. A total of eight zones have been identified for execution of the revamped CTS — East Central Railway (ECR), Northeast frontier Railway (NFR), Northern Railway (NR), South East Central Railway (SECR), South Central Railway (SCR), South Eastern Railway (SER), Southern Railway (SR) and West Central Railway (WCR). In these zones, 20 stations have been selected. These include Patna and Patliputra in Bihar; Badarpur and Lumding in Assam; Varanasi in UP; Bhatinda in Punjab; Old Delhi Railway Station; Chhindwara Junction in Madhya Pradesh; Kacheguda Railway Station in Hyderabad; and Ranchi etc. For instance, the New Delhi Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express, which runs between Silchar and New Delhi, will be cleaned at Patliputra Junction; the Kamakhya Express will be cleaned at Patna Station; the Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express will be cleaned at Lumding, and the Coimbatore Express at Badarpur Junction.
