India launches ‘Clean Railways’ mission

Clean India, Clean Railways. This is the mantra of India’s Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, who has declared in his maiden budget his campaign to cleanse Indian trains and railway stations of dirt and squalor.

“We will follow ‘Swachh Rail’ as the driving force, which will go along the path of ‘Swachh Bharat,” said Mr Prabhu on February 26. “Railways is your travelling hope, please keep it clean,” he appealed to railway passengers.

To make sure he means business, Mr Prabhu announced to create 17000 new bio-toilets for rail passengers. “We will make cleanliness a major initiative. We will engage private agencies & set up waste-to-energy conversion plants,” he said.

Mr Prabhu added that Rs 8.5 lakh crore will be invested in Railways over 5 years. Unveiling his four-point plan for modernization of Indian railways, Mr Prabhu said: “We want to work on these four goals; to deliver a sustained improvement in customer experience; make railways a safer means of travel; modernise infrastructure of railways and expand capacity and finally make railways financially self-sustainable.”

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