NEW DELHI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Faced with complaints of dirty blankets on trains, the state-owned Indian Railways has decided to wash them twice a month instead of current once in two months.
"These blankets with revised specifications should be washed preferably twice in a month subject to available capacity and logistics arrangements," the Indian Railways said in an order issued to all zonal heads.
A senior Indian Railways official told the media Tuesday that the decision has also been taken to change the blanket materials for air-conditioned coach passengers on trains so as to make them washable-friendly.
The Indian Railways is one of the world's largest train networks, criss-crossing the country from north to south. It operates some 9,000 passenger trains and carries nearly 23 million passengers every day.
This vast public enterprise can be referred to as a semi-state. It runs schools, hospitals, has it own police force and construction companies, and has 1.3 million people on its payroll, making it the seventh biggest employer in the world.
In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pledged 137 billion U.S. dollars over five years to modernize and expand the railways.
