With a significant decline in COVID-19 cases, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has restored services of bedrolls and linens in trains for the convenience of passengers, an official said.
There were challenges in resuming the service on all trains due to closure of laundries during the pandemic period, contractual service manpower to supply the bedrolls and linens to passengers on trains.
With a significant decline in COVID-19 cases, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has restored services of bedrolls and linens in trains for the convenience of passengers, an official said.
The Indian Railways had announced in the second week of March to resume the services. However, there were challenges in resuming the service on all trains due to closure of laundries during the pandemic period, contractual service manpower to supply the bedrolls and linens to passengers on trains.
Apart from this, purchasing new linens from cotton industries with brand name and logo is also a hurdle for railways, the official said, adding that immediate supply by industries has not been possible. Even after facing many challenges, ECoR worked day and night to face the challenge of ensuring proper quality of linens.
Restarting the supply of bedroll/linen service in trains from March, 21, 2022 in the Puri-Durg-Puri Express, East Coast Railway gradually improved with linen service in 30 pairs (60 trains) of trains by the third week of April, out of 67 pairs of trains originating from its jurisdiction.
The trains include six pairs of daily trains, two pairs of bi-weekly, two pairs of tri-weekly, 15 pairs of weekly and five pairs of trains running four days and five days a week. Seven pairs of trains from Bhubaneswar, 10 pairs from Puri, four pairs from Sambalpur and nine pairs of trains from Visakhapatnam have now been included in linen and bedroll service.
The trains originating from Bhubaneswar include Rajdhani Express, Hirakhand Express, Bhubaneswar-Junagarh Road Express, Bhubaneswar-Tirupati and Bhubaneswar-Pondicherry Express.
(With PTI inputs)