Now that the railways have decided to wash blankets after every use the smelly blankets might soon become a thing of the past in the trains. The newly designed light weight blankets made of soft fabric would replace the existing ones and these would be washed after every use as per the plan. Till now the blankets were washed only periodically once or twice a month.
In the words of a senior Railway Ministry official,” We are procuring blankets designed by NIFT which can be washed after every use and still last longer.”
The fabric of the blanket has been designed by National Institute of Technology and it is a mix of wool and cotton and is quite capable of withstanding the rigours of daily washing.
The official said,” Since there were complaints about blankets, we have tried to address the issue. We have approved the NIFT designed washable blanket. The washable blankets will be used in a few selected premier trains to begin with and later on more trains will be covered.”
Steps have also been undertaken by the Railways to set up state-of-the-art mechanised laundries at many of the stations to cater to the increased requirement of daily washing of bedrolls, including blankets.
In fact the NIFT has redesigned the entire bedroll in addition to the blankets with new colour combination. Hence the bedsheet and pillow cover are all going to sport a new look.