Central Railways to resume linen service after two months

The passengers commuting on the Central Railways will have to wait for the linen services for another two months.

The Indian Railways had last week issued orders to resume the service of providing linen, blankets and curtains inside all trains, a provision that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it will take another two months for the linen service to resume as the automatic laundry machines, which were shut for over two years, need some repair work and maintenance to run smoothly again.

Officials have informed that it may even take a little over two months to restart the services, reported. "The linens, which has not been used for two years need to be disinfected and washed before providing it in the trains," said an official. Indian Railways had said that 100 per cent fresh washed linen will be provided to train passengers in sealed packets as per instructions.

In an attempt to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the Railways had in 2020 announced that it would not provide blankets and curtains to commuters in air-conditioned coaches of all trains.

Even though free bedroll and linen had been discontinued, the Indian Railways had been providing a bedroll kit to people who would be interested in buying them. The service was made available on the basis of need, and some bedsheets were kept for exigencies.

Passengers were advised to bring their own blankets on long journeys. It had also instructed the minimum temperature in train coaches to be set at 24-25 degrees Celsius, as a precautionary step.

As cases of coronavirus started to decline significantly, the national transporter resumed most of its services which were suspended earlier due to the Covid-19 situation in the country. The concessions on tickets for passengers reportedly remain suspended.