Housekeeping staff to be given tablets to note down passenger feedback on cleanliness

The Western Railway (WR) has provided its housekeeping staff with tablets to receive passenger feedback on cleanliness in trains.

The issue has been an area of concern in recent times and officials have been working on reducing complaints of unclean trains for several months.

Under the On Board Housekeeping Services, which was launched a decade ago, an official is placed in-charge of maintaining cleanliness in three coaches. The official has to ensure the coaches are free of pests, the washrooms are regularly cleaned, the liquid hand soap dispensers are refilled and room fresheners are sprayed in the coaches.

Interestingly, the amount paid to cleaning contractors are based on ratings given by passengers in feedback forms. However, senior WR officials they got a false impression of cleanliness on trains as the forms were being filled by the contractors themselves. They allegedly filled the forms using the names and mobile numbers of passengers without taking their consent.

Officials said feedback will now be verified by sending a one-time password to the mobile phones of passengers. The tablets will be preloaded with a Android-based app, which will register attendance of the housekeeping staff and receive the feedback of passengers.

The tablet will have GPS mapping and store the fingerprints of the staff. Passengers can also register complaints using the tablet.

Housekeeping staff can seek the feedback of a minimum of two passengers and a maximum of four. On completes of the journey, the feedback will be mailed to the railway official. An average rating will be arrived at and contractor will to be paid based on it.

So far, four tablets have been handed over to housekeeping staff on Rajdhani and August Kranti trains. Tablets will be made available on five more trains.