NEW DELHI: After successful launch of ‘clean my coach’ service whereby travellers get their compartments cleaned by sending an SMS, Railways is planning to launch more such services like ‘clean linen’ and ‘water my coach’ which will further empower passengers to get better services on board trains.
There are also plans to extend ‘clean my coach’ service in all trains which even don’t have OBHS (on board housekeeping) facility. The plan is that in non-OBHS trains, the cleaning can be done at next halt station after receiving a request from passengers.
According to ministry, many passengers complain about dirty linen in the coaches and there is a plan to launch a SMS service where by passengers can send their PNR number seeking clean/change of linen. In similar way, many times there is no water in coach and passenger don’t know whom to complain so through this service they can get water filled in coaches.
“The idea is to empower the passenger and make staff members accountable. These are basic services and passengers have a right to get it,” said a senior railway officer.
The ‘clean my coach’ which was launched in March this year is slowly picking up momentum and railways is getting nearly 200-250 complaints every day.
“The redressal is 99 percent and in the leftover we try to address the issue,” said the official.
As per the scheme, for any cleaning requirement in the coach, passengers have to send an SMS on a mobile number 58888. Alternatively, passengers can use the android app or Web page www.cleanmycoach.com for logging the request.
Following this, a passenger’s request is immediately acknowledged via SMS on mobile phone along with a code. The cleaning staff has to report to passenger within 30 minutes and if he doesn’t then message goes to his supervisor and other senior officials. A complaint closes only when the cleaning staff fills the code sent on passenger’s phone.
All these initiatives are part of ‘Digitial India’ and ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’ initiatives of the government.