Suburban trains littered with waste after each trip

Non-cooperation from commuters has defeated the railways' efforts to keep suburban trains clean. Trains cleaned in the morning are found littered with waste by the afternoon, according to a top official.

The matter came to the fore during the concluding event of the two-week cleanliness campaign organised by the South Western Railway's Bengaluru division.

Divisional Railway Manager R S Saxena said the cleaning of MEMU trains had become a challenging task considering that some of the commuters littered inside compartments without care. "In Mumbai's suburban trains, there are no toilets and people use dustbins. So, trains remain clean even after running for about 140 km a day. But in Bengaluru, trains cleaned in the morning are littered even before they complete a small trip," he said.

MEMU purpose defeated

Saxena said commuters should take an active part in ensuring that trains remain clean by using bins and advising others against littering. "If we have to clean a MEMU train after each trip, the time spent on the job makes it difficult to increase the frequency of services. People should realise it is a collective effort," he added.

He said the division's laundry unit had been contributing towards keeping the trains clean. "The unit handles 13,200 bedrolls and 1,600 blankets every day to facilitate arrangements in 35 trains," he said.

The railways recognised some of its employees and licensed porters who have contributed to keeping the stations and trains clean.