Commuters send SMSes,drive change in railways

Nearly two years after the Central and Western Railway opened a helpline for commuters to voice their grievances,commuters are using the facility more to suggest improvements rather than register complaints. Some of the suggestions have in fact been implemented by the railways. For instance,the WR is now coming up with fare-specific coupons as suggested by a commuter. It currently has coupons in denomination of Rs 1,2,3 and 5. The increase in space between seats in the new Siemens rakes was also a result of SMSes sent by commuters.

Over seven million people use the locals daily and the pressure to run the system is intense. “We got the maximum SMSes in the month we started the service; most of them were complaints and largely dealt with cleanliness and upkeep of seats. Now,the tone of SMSes has changed. They help us improve our systems,” said a senior CR official. “We run the services for people. If they respond to us and point out anomalies,then it’s an ideal example of people’s participation in running the trains.”

The CR started the helpline 90044 11111 on April 16,2009. The WR started the service a month later. If the complaint is difficult to understand then the officers monitoring the SMSes call the commuter who has sent the SMS. These complaints are directly monitored by an officer of additional general manager rank. The complaints are then forwarded to the principal head of departments and divisional railway managers concerned . An action taken report has to be submitted accordingly and is reviewed by the general manager.