ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

In a move to better compete with a rival train operator's famous "seven-minute miracle" for cleaning a bullet train between its arrival and departure, Central Japan Railway Co will shave off two minutes from its own shinkansen cleaning work, beginning next spring.

JR Central plans to complete cleaning of its 16-car Nozomi bullet trains at Tokyo Station in around 10 minutes. Which is still longer than East Japan Railway Co's seven minutes.

Currently 52 cleaning staff working for subsidiary Shinkansen Maintenance Tokai Co take care of the 16-car trains - tidying the seats, mopping the floor and cleaning the toilets.

As the shinkansen time schedules are tightly managed, cleaning must be efficient and fast. A video entitled "7-Minute Miracle," showing the work of the cleaning crew for JR East's bullet trains, has gone viral around the world with six million views, and the super speedy clean-up has attracted global media attention.

Steps being taken to speed up cleaning include reducing the number of times liquid soap containers are refilled in toilets, according to the officials.