Southern Railway observed ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ today, the 1^st of October 2023 in commemoration of Gandi Jayanthi. The massive cleanliness campaign focussing on the theme "Garbage Free India’ was organized at 360 railway stations, 43 railway colonies, 47 maintenance depots and workshops, 30 Health Units and 30 running rooms covering over 1200 locations across the zone. Over 12000 volunteers actively participated in the drive.

Shri R.N. Singh, General Manager, Southern Railway launched the Swachhata Hi Seva Cleanliness drive at Chennai Egmore today and offered Shramdaan along with Shri P. Suresh, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, Shri P. Mahesh, Senior Dy. General Manager, Shri Challam, Chief Project Manager/Gati Sakti and Officers and Staff of Southern Railway.

Shri Kaushal Kishore, Additional General Manager, Southern Railway participated in the Swachhata Hi Seva Cleanliness drive at Dr MGR Chennai Central today along with Shri B. Viswanath Eerya, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai, other Officers and staff. The ‘14-minute miracle’ Cleaning of Coimbatore – Dr MGR Vande Bharat Express (on arrival) was carried out at Dr MGR Chennai Central during the programme.

Principal Heads of Departments, Officers and Staff of Southern Railway also actively participated in the drive organized at various locations which saw the enthusiastic participation of students, Scouts & Guides, NGOs, Volunteers, rail passengers and general public.

The special cleanliness campaign was led by Divisional Railway Managers at all the six divisions of Chennai, Salem, Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram and a host of events like Shramdaan, Cleanliness rally, Tree plantation drives, honouring Cleanliness workers ( Safai Karamcharis) were organized.

‘14-minute Miracle’ Vande Bharat Cleaning

As part of the Swachhata Hi Seva Cleaning Program on 1^st October 2023, a novel scheme named ’14-minute miracle’ has been launched on pilot basis for three incoming rakes of Vande Bharat. The 14 Minute Miracle Cleaning Scheme will save time for the passengers at the destination station for the return journey of the Vande Bharat train and it will ensure that the passengers are able to board a cleaner train in a shorter time.

Train No 20644 Coimbatore – Chennai Vande Bharat which arrived at Dr MGR Chennai Central at 11.50 hrs was cleaned at a record 14 minutes at Dr Chennai Central Railway Station, and the incoming Train No.20666 Tirunelveli – Chennai Egmore Vande Bharat which reached Chennai Egmore at 13.50 was also cleaned in a record 14 minutes as well as Train No.20634 Thiruvananthapuram – Kasaragod Vande Bharat Express which reached Kasaragod 13.20 hrs. All the three Vande Bharat Express trains were cleaned quickly in 14 minutes time on arrival at their respective destination stations. These trials will demonstrate the scheme's effectiveness in improving the overall quality of rail services and based on the feedback the scheme will be further improved. This program shares similarities with Japan's Bullet Train cleanliness initiative.

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AP/DL