March 21, 2007

Railway Sheets

While on travel, I cannot help but wonder:

Who washes all the bed linen in the AC compartments?
How often?
With which detergent?
Where and how do they get dry?
Do all of them get ironed? By what means?
Do a few passengers treat them as souviniers to take back home? How does one nab them?

Can any of you or the Indian Railways answer me this....

15 comments:

Crumbling Cookie said...

I am glad you wondered about the linen and not the food. I don't know the answers and I am hoping someone will do the enlightening!! But my plea to that someone-please don't tell us how you cook the food!!!

B o o said...

Ok. Im feeling really useful today! :)
1. The linen are sent to private cleaners.
2. They are sent everyday.
3. Dont know.
4. They have huge washers and dryers.
5. Yes with huge steam rollers.
6. Very few go missing. The AC passengers are assumed to be educated and hence well behaved!

On a train trip from Chennai to my home town, the last leg had no passengers in our compartment except for my dad and me and the guy who was taking away the linen was grilled with Qs by my dad and for a while my dad thought about going to into washing/drying business just like the other 1000 stuff he thought it would be a good idea to do. Hence the info! :)
Also, the guy works 365 days a year. No holidays except when theres a railway strike and he said he looks forward to those. I have never looked at my train bed sheets the same ever since! :(

Anonymous said...

you dont want to know what guys and girls do inside them :)

Kowsalya Subramanian said...

Whenever I travelled, 10 minutes before the train would stop they came and collected it. But yes I went to the final destination, but if someone gets down in the middle - no clue about it.

As for recovering missing things, I thought they already charged for those too in our tickets ;)

Itchingtowrite said...

that was great insights !! i hate the way they r left on the floor near the toliet after literally snatching them form half asleep passangers if the train reaches the destination early in the morning!!

Noodlehead said...

when i was a baby, mom plonked me on one of those and the next morning i woke up looking like a tomato...all red and rashy! ever since i don't use linen in restaurants or trains! also, i'm too icky about using train linen even if it has been supposedly washed (i'm borderline OCD).

KK said...

Nice questions... I have always had my doubts on how clean they were... Thanks to Boo for clarifying these questions :)

KK said...

BTW, nice collage in your previous post :)

Fuzzylogic said...

I have wondered about the same things as well.Hmm..they wash it everyday?I would doubt that. I have a problem with their linen everytime,they never seem that clean as washed everyday.

Lavs said...

Generally people spill coffee/food/colas on linen provided [liberally]. As this gets washed in bulk, individual stains are not completely removed giving the clothes an unwashed look.I have travelled in TN express 4 times a year for 4 years. As soon as the train reaches the destination[chn/delhi], the attendants used to remove all the linen and throw into a gaint trolley for washing.

Usha said...

Do you think they wash the woolen blankets too daily? I find them itchy and dont use them.

Kalpana said...

Good info from b o o! Thanks for the post.

B o o said...

Usha - I did nt want to give out "unnecessary" information since Art did nt ask specifically! LOL! No, the woolen blankets are not washed, they are just aired! I never use them either. BTW, all these info only on one route of Southern railways as told by a staff. No idea if its the same everywhere.

Artnavy said...

BOO- thanks a lot for the info and tnx to your appa too
see i knew not to ask for unwanted info- eeks i used the woollen blanket this time:-(

ALL-
my queries were triggered by the smell of Henko on the sheet!The business potential is immense

Imagine 200 sheets per AC compartment per day multiplied by the number of trains each day into 365 days- and then the festival specials as well!!

Phew- my maths can't keep up.

Just Like That said...

Just last weekend, I was wondering the same when my son and his train-pals were trailing the sheets on the floor, and I placed them safely out of reach.
After reading the comments, am glad they do get washed , but am so sorry for that man who has to work 365 days in a year.:-(