Visakhapatnam railway station cleanest, Darbhanga dirtiest: Survey

New Delhi: Visakhapatnam railway station in Andhra Pradesh is the cleanest, followed by Secunderabad, among the 75 busiest stations in the country.

As per a survey, the report of which was released by railway minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Jammu railway station occupied the third spot, while the New Delhi station was ranked at 39 among the busiest stations. The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India.

The Darbhanga railway station in Bihar was the dirtiest among the busiest stations.

The Beas railway station was the cleanest, followed by Khammam, in the A category. Ahmednagar station was ranked at 3rd position.

Khammam improved its rank to second from the rank of 285 the previous year, says the new report “Third Party Cleanliness Index”.  

Other stations which have improved their ranks are Guwahati, Varanasi, Mughalsarai and Hazrat Nizamuddin.

The index which was started last year is seen to have accomplished a significant improvement in cleanliness at stations, railways minister Suresh Prabhu said releasing the report.  

Clean toilets at platforms, clean tracks and dustbins at stations were some of the criteria for judging railway stations for cleanliness. This was the third survey on cleanliness done by the railways to keep a tab on rail premises as part of its swachchh rail campaign.

With its focus on coach cleanliness, the railways has introduced “Clean My Coach” services, which is getting overwhelming response of the passengers, Four green corridors have been marked, which are free from discharge of human waste.

“I urge the municipal corporation of the cities which have encroachments to come forward and cooperate in eliminating human waste from the tracks,” Mr Prabhu said, adding a large number of NGOs and students groups have come forward to clean and beautify their stations.

The survey was carried out for total 407 stations, out of which 75 are in the A-1 category or most busy stations and 332 are in the A category.

While the Darbhanga railway station was at the 75th position in the A-1 category, Jogbani was the dirtiest in the A category.

The Indian railways is the third largest rail network with 66,000 route kilometre stretch covering more than 8,000 stations. Following the launch of “Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan” on October 2, 2014, the railways also launched “Swachchh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” to achieve the vision of “Clean India”.

The railway minister also dedicated a “Swachch Rail Portal’ to showcase rankings of stations and trains, as well as methodology adopted for rankings of stations and train specific dashboards.