CHENNAI: Southern Railway has started mechanised cleaning and washing of trains which stop at Chennai-Egmore station since June 11 after the station was categorised as a Clean Train Station (CTS).Egmore is the third station in the Southern Railway zone, after Erode and Chennai Central, to get the CTS tag. Under this scheme, specific stations are selected where reputed and professional agencies hired by Railways will clean trains in a mechanised process.This includes removal of garbage from trains, cleaning toilets using biodegradable or other cleaning agents and washing windows of coaches, railway officials said. This is to increase the passenger satisfaction.Operationally, it makes sense as trains stop for 20 minutes, the time taken for the cleaning, only at certain important junctions.At Egmore, six terminating and origination trains and 14 pass-through trains have been identified for cleaning under the CTS scheme. "Around 190 coaches per day will be cleaned," a senior official said.At Chennai Central, 225 coaches from 19 pass-through trains and six platform turn-around trains are covered under the scheme. It was launched in May at Central, officials said.CTS is used for stations, especially junctions, where a high number of trains pass through or originate and terminate and have a longer stoppage time. It was initially introduced in the Ratlam station - a major station in central india - frequented by trains which criss-cross the country. Near Chennai, Vijaywada is a major station where CTS and watering of coaches is done.Apart from CTS, railways also has schemes like on-board-housekeeping services (OBHS), where-in staff travelling on the train are available for cleaning as on request by the passengers.Around 25 Southern Railway trains have OBHS and 40 more trains are likely to get the facility as per instructions of the Railway Board , officials said.

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