Bhubaneswar: An automatic sanitary napkin vending machine has been installed in a coach Bhubaneswar- Jagdalpur Hirakhand Express. The train became the first to have such facility under the East Coast Railways (ECoR) region, an official said today.

ECoR Chief Spokesperson JP Mishra said it has been installed on a trial basis and the move would be extended to other trains as well on the basis of its response.

“This is the first train under the east coast region in which a sanitary pad dispensation machine has been installed. It is useful for women passengers in long-distance train journeys. We will extend this plan in other trains as well,” Mishra told Odisha Sun Times.

The facility was inaugurated Madhulika Singh, President of East Coast Railway Women's Welfare Organisation (ECoRWWO). "We have provided on-board sanitary napkin vending machine in Bhubaneswar-Jagdalpur Hirakhand Express for the convenience of women passengers as part of promoting and securing women's well-being and health," Singh said after inaugurating the facility.

From the machine, which was installed inside an AC 2-tier coach of the train, anybody can get a napkin by inserting a Rs 5 coin only.

The machine has a capacity of storing 25 sanitary napkins which will be refilled by a woman staff, he added.

Notably, an automatic sanitary napkin vending machine was already installed inside the 2nd class ladies waiting hall on Platform No-1. Bhubaneswar station was the first railway station in the State to have such a machine. Later the facility was installed at Puri, Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam stations under the ECoR jurisdiction.

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According ECoR sources, the service at the station has been received well by the women passengers. More than 500 napkins were dispensed from the machine in the last three months.

Sanitary vending machine was first was installed in a coach of Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in the country on the occasion of International Women’s Day this year.