Passengers to evaluate OBHS work
To ensure the cleanliness onboard of the outstation trains, the CR has been operating an OBHS.
Mumbai: In a bid to fix more responsibility of cleanliness Onboard Housekeeping Services (OBHS) of the Central Railway (CR) trains, the CR has decided to give the evaluation rights of the OBHS contractor to the passengers who will the price of the cleanliness in their respective coaches.
To ensure the cleanliness onboard of the outstation trains, the CR has been operating an OBHS. The CR has provided this service in 92 CR owned mail/express trains. A dedicated group of six personnel equipped with tools and cleaning chemicals travel onboard, in each of these trains to ensure housekeeping while the trains are on run. Apart from two prescribed cleaning (early morning and evening), the OBHS staffs are available on call right through the journey.
A CR official said that OBHS staffs are equipped to the service of the passengers on cleanliness related, pest/rodent control, bio-toilet related, petty repairs, linen and watering in the coaches of the trains.
OBHS model is a supply-based service. Since the scheme focuses on cleanliness, it needs to be ‘demand’ based; hence the passengers should demand the service.
At present, 40 per cent payment to the OBHS contractor by the railways is dependent on the customer feedback. If the Passenger Satisfaction Index (PSI) is below six, the contractor gets 40 per cent payment deducted; between six and 7.5, 30 percent payment is deducted and between 7.6 and 8.5, 20 per cent payment deducted as penalty. If the contractor gets above 8.5 then no penalty is levied towards payment.
The CR has designated mobile numbers for OBHS services - 9821736069 for Mumbai/Nagpur trains and 9200003232 for Pune trains.
In a statement, CR official said that any passenger could send a service request through an SMS to the above-classified mobile numbers. Each service request is automatically electronically logged and a pin number is sent to the passenger. The request is electronically closed only when the passenger shares the pin, after attention by the OBHS staff. Thus a request generated is closed only after it is truly serviced.