The Southern Railway claimed that the media had portrayed an alarmist situation regarding the cancellation of housekeeping services inside the train
New Delhi: The Southern Railway has withdrawn their decision to suspend onboard housekeeping services (OBHS) in long-distance trains. The change occurred as the ministry of railways sanctioned Rs 50 crore to continue the services. According to sources, officials from the ministry of railways intervened and gave money flagged by general manager Rahul Jain at the highest level.
Yesterday, the Southern Railway principal chief mechanical engineer sent a letter to all major railway officials in Madurai, Palghat, Selam, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchi. The letter stated that the decision to withdraw the housekeeping services from September 1 had been called off.
The Southern Railway also claimed that the media had portrayed an alarmist situation regarding the cancellation of housekeeping services inside the train. A mismatch of funds had to be sorted out on Wednesday, report said.
Earlier, the Southern Railway decided to suspend onboard housekeeping services on 86 long-distance trains, mostly originating from Kerala and Tamil Nadu from September 1. There are 110 long-distance trains from the Southern Railways, of which the OBHS will be retained only on 24 trains such as the Tamil Nadu Express, Grand Trunk Express, Kerala Express and Navjeevan Express.
In total, 74.5% of the zone’s network is in Tamil Nadu, with the rest running through Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Puducherry. It operates a total of 1,313 trains, including suburban ones.
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