Odisha: Sanitary napkins in trains for women passengers soon

Bhubaneswar: Good news for women passengers travelling in trains as the East Coast Railway (ECoR) decided to make sanitary pads available for them in coaches.

The ECoR will install automatic sanitary napkin vending machines in all the trains originating from its jurisdiction, a source in the railway said.

The railways started installing the sanitary napkin vending machines in 90 compartments of 63 trains from Gandhi Jayanti yesterday.

With installation of machines, the women passengers can get a sanitary pad by inserting Rs 5 coin in the devices.

The move came in view of successful response from women passengers following installation of vending machines in Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur Hirakhand Express train.

The step is a part of drive to improve sanitation and hygiene under ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat’ mission, an official said.

The facility is already available in Bhubaneswar-Bangalore Prashanti Express.

Worth mentioning, the ECoR is the first railway zone to undertake such initiative by installing the sanitary vending machines in major railway stations under its jurisdiction.

Initially, the facility will be available under the initiative by East Coast Railway Women’s Welfare Organisation (ECoRWWO) president Madhulika Singh in 25 express trains originating in ECoR zone.

The machines installed in the railway stations are also sponsored by the ECoRWWO.

The 25 trains, which will have sanitary napkin vending machines, originating under ECoR jurisdiction include:

1. Three Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express trains
2. Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express
3. Puri-Anand Vihar Nandankanan Express
4. Puri-Anand Vihar Neelachal Express
5. Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Odisha Sampark Kranti Express
6. Bhubaneswar-LTT bi-weekly Express
7. Visakhapatnam-New Delhi AP AC Express trains