Duronto trains are the least clean among premium trains, while Tejas and Shatabdi trains are the cleanest, according to IRCTC’s Trains Cleanliness Survey.
Trains operated by Southern Railway are rated the cleanest, while North Central Railway’s trains are the least clean.
How were the trains rated?
Each train was scored on a total of 1,000. Equal weightage of 33% is given to process evaluation, direct observation and passenger feedback. The first two form the cleanliness score, while the three combined form the total score. The survey covered 209 trains across 16 zones and took feedback from 15,360 passengers.
Premium trains outperform
Despite Duronto trains being above average on the cleanliness score, passengers rated them as low as they rated inter-city trains. This indication higher expectations among Duronto passengers. The IRCTC report too observes, "This could be due to higher expectation among passengers for these premium segment trains".
In the below chart, the average cleanliness marks are measured on the horizontal axis (Out of a total of 666 marks) and the average passenger feedback is represented on the vertical axis (total 333 marks). Size of the circle represents number of trains in that category. So for instance, Tejas and Gatiman have the least number of trains surveyed (one each)
Expectations factor
For trains operating in certain zones, the cleanliness score was higher, but their overall rating was pulled down by bad customer feedback (for instance, Northern Railway). This indicates higher expectations of cleanliness from passengers.
In some zones, cleanliness was low, but their overall rating improved because of customers rating the trains well, thereby indicating lower expectations (West Central Railway, for example).
The table below shows percentage of trains in that zone which are classified under that header. For instance, 50% of Eastern Railway (ER) trains are cleaner and received better feedback from passengers.
W-Western, E-Eastern, N-Northern, C-Central, S-Southern, ECoR East Coast Railway; for full list, click here.