Central Railway to restart linen services on 15 trains from April 7

The linen being washed at a facility on Central Railway in Mumbai

A day after mid-day reported on passengers' complaints regarding non-availability of linen on trains, Central Railway on Saturday night announced that it will restart linen services onboard trains in a month's time. Releasing a list of the first 15 trains on which these will be available starting April 7, officials said that more and more trains will be covered as logistics fall in place and services are streamlined.

Blankets, bed sheets and other linen was discontinued during the Covid-19 pandemic for nearly two years. Even though free bedroll and linen had been discontinued, the Indian Railways had been providing a bedroll kit to people for a price. The Indian Railways had last week issued orders to resume the service of providing bed linen and curtains inside all trains "with immediate effect". When this service failed to start, commuters started complaining.

Railway managers said linen which had not been used for two years needed to be disinfected and washed before providing it on trains and that the process involves getting laundries started, machines restarted and organising manpower, post which disbursal would begin and the entire process could take a few weeks for smooth functioning. "We are putting processes in place and will be able to give precise dates for every train when the services become practically available. A list of more trains will be announced soon," Central Railway Chief Spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said.

Officials said that there are two linen washing facilities on the Central Railway in Mumbai, one at Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) and the other at Wadi Bunder, which have been shut since the pandemic started in March 2020. Thousands of bed sheets, blankets and curtains are stored there and washed. Western Railway officials said that preparations to make bed sheets and blankets available on their trains had been fast-paced. "We will be doing it very soon," a WR spokesperson said.