For Railways to succeed:

Compartments should be well maintained

Passenger Compartments in trains should be well maintained and always kept clean if the Railway is to become a popular transport service in keeping with the hopes and aspirations of the people, said Transport Minister Kumara Welgama.

The Minister said so when he visited the Dematagoda Railway yard on Thursday to inspect the railway cleaning and maintenance service.

The Minister said there were many complaints from commuters about the untidiness in railway compartments when he boarded the Ruhunu Kumari Express train to Colombo at the Aluthgama station that morning.

As such he travelled to Colombo in the same train and made a bee line to the Dematagoda yard to inspect the railway cleansing service.

The Minister addressing Railway officials and staff of the cleansing company handling the cleaning service, said that eventhough the Railway had hired the services of a cleansing company at a great expense the present cleaning process in trains was not at all satisfactory. The company and railway officials should ensure that they received an efficient service commensurate to the payments made.

The railway spends nearly Rs 200 per compartment for cleaning. Nearly 100 compartments are cleaned daily. Unless there was an improvement in the cleaning service to the satisfaction of commuters within a month, he would be compelled to take stern action against those responsible without regard to their official status, the minister said.