New Delhi, March 4 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said that punctuality and cleanliness were crucial for railways and asked new entrants into various services to provide the best to passengers.

Speaking to a group of 136 probationers from various railway services who called on him, the president said that the railways was cheapest mode of long-distance transportation and serves to integrate far-flung areas of the country.

Punctuality, cleanliness and quality were crucial features of railway services which create a permanent impression on the passengers, said Mukherjee, according to an official release.

"When people from diverse backgrounds who speak different languages sit together in a railway coach, they just share a unique common identity - that of being railway passengers," he said, urging the probationers to resolve to provide the best railway services to the people.

The probationers who met the president belonged to the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railways Accounts Service (IRAS), Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), Indian Railway Service of Stores (IRSS) and Railway Protection Force (RPF), the release said.

The IRTS probationers are presently undergoing training at the Indian Railways Institute of Transport Management (IRITM), Lucknow while probationers of RPF are undergoing training at Jagjivan Ram Railway Protection Force Academy, Lucknow.

Probationers of IRAS, IRPS and IRSS are undergoing training at National Academy of Indian Railways, the release said.