Mumbai :In a bid to ensure better cleanliness and hygiene in long distance trains, Western Railway (WR) will be setting up a linen washing plant in its Mumbai Division. The plant is being set up at Grant Road which will cater to all air-conditioned (AC) coaches of long distance trains originating from Mumbai Central as well as Bandra Terminus.
The linen washing plant which is expected to be functional by March this year will wash 2,000 packets of bedsheets and mattresses served in AC coaches each day. Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager of WR said, “The plant will help us maintain quality standards which were earlier affected due to outsourcing of work.”
All linen-needs of long distance trains originating from Mumbai Central as well as Bandra Terminus will be catered to from this new plant which is being set up at Grant Road. It is the first linen washing plant being set up by Mumbai Division of WR. Earlier, these bedsheets were either brought from washing plants in Surat and Ahmedabad which had surplus work. An official from WR said, “The problem with outsourcing the work was very often the washing was of substandard quality. Despite fining the contractor for it the issue remained unresolved as there are not many contractors that can take up the cleaning work on such a huge scale.”
