Rail Budget 2016: Emphasis on social media for grievance redressal

While presenting his second Rail Budget in Parliament, railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday stressed on social media for grievance redressal of the passengers.

Citing that every responsive organisation should have a system to address grievances from its valued customers, he said that an all-India 24X7 helpline number, 138, will become functional to attend to the problems of passengers on a real-time basis.

“Passengers will be able to call up for complaints while on trains. A mobile application to redress railway-related complaints is also being developed. We intend to start this facility on a pilot project basis on Northern Railway from March 1,” he said.

Based on the experienced gained and the feedback received from passengers, the minister said that the facility will be extended to all railways soon thereafter.

Further, keeping in mind the criticality of security-related issues, the minister said that a toll-free number, 182, has been dedicated for receiving security-related complaints. “Railways would utilise resources from the Nirbhaya Fund for augmenting security of our women passengers,” he added.

At present, the railways has different digital solutions for ticketing, grievance redressal and other issues.

“We intend to integrate all such facilities into two mobile apps,” the minister further said.