Tatanagar railway station is gearing up to expand the mechanised laundry at the railway station. The mechanised laundry would soon have another laundry machine of 1.5 ton, to cater to the rising requirement of linen washing.
Railway officials at Tatanagar said that the need for expansion of the mechanised laundry was felt due to increasing number of special trains originating from Tatanagar and additional AC berths which are introduced to clear rush of passengers during festive seasons and vacations.
The Tatanagar station assumes importance in view because it is located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express.
The station sees a daily traffic of 90mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.
“We want to meet the growing demand. At present the laundry has a 1.5 ton capacity machine for cleaning the linen provided to passengers on AC reserved coaches. Soon another machine of the same capacity would be added which will help in meeting the requirements, " said H K Balmuchu, station director at Tatanagar.
The existing machine can wash 5,000 bed rolls daily. The mechanised laundry plant runs in three shifts He explained that the mechanised washed and packed linen is supplied in coaches of train to obtain proper hygiene. Presently, Tatanagar and Rourkela railway stations under Chakradharpur division have mechanised laundry facilities.
According to a proposal for installation of the new machine was already approved by the South Eastern Railway.
The mechanised laundry was set up in 2011 near the newly built coaching complex at Tatanagar station, with an investment of about Rs 1.50 crore. The laundry was established with the aim of improving the quality of linen supplied to the passengers since bed linen was one of the areas, which attracted grievances from the passengers.