Indian Railways clarifies on supply of bedsheets, blankets inside trains

Amid reports of Indian Railways not providing linen inside trains despite its resumption, the national transporter on Wednesday said that the supply of linen has been resumed "from the date the resumption of the same was notified".

 However, it is being done in a phased manner to ensure proper quality of linen, the Ministry of Railways stated. It said a sizeable amount of fresh linen is being procured as a lot of old stock has become unserviceable in the last two COVID years.

"Railways is working overtime to bring the service back to 100 per cent as it was in pre-COVID times," the ministry added.

On March 10, Indian Railways had issued orders to resume providing blankets and curtains inside trains, a provision that was suspended due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The linen includes pillows, blankets, sheets and towels in a sealed cover.

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In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Railways had announced in May 2020 that it would not provide blankets and curtains in air-conditioned coaches of all trains. Passengers were advised to bring their own blankets on long journeys.

It had instructed that the minimum temperature in train coaches be set at 24-25 degrees Celsius.

However, the Railways had made arrangements to provide blankets to passengers on demand and some bedsheets were kept for exigencies.

The national transporter, which had also suspended the service of providing meals and most of its concessions on tickets, has reintroduced some of the facilities.

Notably, the concession facility is only available to 4 categories of Divyangjan and 11 categories of patients and students now.

"Due to challenges posed by COVID-19, total passenger revenue generated during 2020-21 is less in comparison to the year 2019-20 pre-COVID period. Cost of granting concessions weigh heavily on Railways, hence extending the scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable at present," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Lok Sabha last week.