Aurangabad: The railway station in Aurangabad — the tourism capital of Maharashtra — has been ranked 321st among the 332 A-category railway stations in the country, raising many an eyebrow.The railway stations were assessed as part of an all-India third-party survey by Quality Council of India.The South Central Railway (SCR), which comprises parts of Marathwada, was ranked second of all zones on Indian Railways. However, Aurangabad and a few other Marathwada stations fared poorly.The third-party audit-cum-survey of ranking of cleanliness had covered 407 stations, including 75 stations in A1 and 332 stations in A category. Railway stations with annual passenger revenue of more than Rs 50 crore fall in A1 category, while those earning between Rs 6 crore and Rs 50 crore fall in A category. Marathwada does not have any A1 category stations.Another A-category station, Nanded, stood at 161st position, Jalna at 183rd and Latur at 212nd position. Manmad and Jalgaon railway stations secured 143rd and 184th ranks, respectively.Railway activist Raj Somani said railway authorities as well as passengers must introspect over the reasons for the poor showing of railway stations in the region.“Cleanliness is a joint responsibility of railway authorities and passengers. Marathwada, a tourism hub that attracts travellers interested in religion and history, should strive for higher ranking,” he said.Divisional Railway Manager for SCR Nanded division, Trikalagya Rabha, who was on leave, said he was not aware of the results of the ranking exercise.Public relations officer with Nanded division of SCR, Rajesh Shinde, said there was need to find out if the rankings have improved or worsened since the last time.Tirupati and Warangal stations have been ranked at number three position in A1 & A category respectively in SCR zone, while Vijayawada, Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Kacheguda also feature amongst top 15 in A1 category on Indian Railways, SCR authorities said.South Central Railway registered significant improvement in the overall ranking amongst all zones on Indian Railways, moving to the second position from its previous year’s 4th position ranking, authorities said.

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