Better safety for passengers with railway toll-free helpline

Visakhapatnam: With a view to strengthening safety of passengers and check crimes against women in trains and stations, the Railways launched 24x7 helpline which will be tracked on real-time basis across the country.

The pan India toll-free helpline, the first-of-its-kind in Railways, provide round-the-clock security-related assistance to passengers. Passengers can use the helpline to report thefts, harassment or any other untoward incidents. After receiving the complaint from the passenger on a moving train, the message will be passed on to the nearest railway station immediately for necessary action, said Senior Divisional Commercial Manager G Suneel Kumar on Monday. 

The Waltair Division is operating security helpline number 182 from 2014. Railway Protection Force (RPF) responds to the calls round-the-clock. The BSNL and AIR TEL users can access the toll-free security helpline, he added.  

During in the present fiscal, till February 28, as many as 103 cases were registered through security helpline, that includes 60 cases of theft cases, 5 cases of medical assistance, 11 cases of left over luggage, 8 cases of inconvenience due to co-passengers, 12 cases of entering of passengers into ladies compartment, disabled coaches, reserved coaches, 2 cases of smoking, 4 cases of missing persons and one miscellaneous case.

All the cases were attended promptly and solved, Suneel Kumar said in a release.  Apart from the helpline complaints, RPF of Waltair Division had solved 535 cases promptly.