Over the years, the Indian Railways has provided an affordable means of travel for people across the country. But did you know that apart from transportation, it also provides medical assistance to rural India with its hospital on wheels aka the Lifeline Express? It has treated 12.32 lakh patients across 19 states free of cost.
In addition to healthcare, it promotes gender inclusivity by employing the L-Team, consisting of 14 women led by a female supervisor in Kerala who are responsible for train maintenance and passenger safety. Recently, it also connected a son to his mother with the help of Twitter.
Twitter user @curiou_s couldn’t get in touch with his mother after her train got delayed by 12 hours. So he tweeted for help by tagging the Railway Ministry.
Sir, I am unable to contact my mother Mrs.Shila Pandey. She is travelling in Ajmer-SDAH Express 12988 with starting date 28-09-2019 in Coach S5, the train is running late by 12 hours. Sir, please help me know if she is there alright.@PiyushGoyal@PiyushGoyalOffc @RailMinIndia
— Sashwat (@curiou_s) September 29, 2019
Subsequently, Indian Railways Seva asked for the lady’s PNR, contact number, boarding station name and date of boarding. After obtaining the information, they forwarded the request to DRM Asansol.
Less than 2 hours later, with the help of the TTE, a telephonic conversation was arranged between the two.
@PiyushGoyal @RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyalOffc @DRM_ASN @RailwaySeva
Thank you so much sir for your prompt action. I am grateful for your help.🙏— Sashwat (@curiou_s) September 29, 2019
People were impressed by the promptness of the sweet gesture and lauded the officials for the same. However, some also urged the ministry to ensure that trains depart and arrive on time to minimise such issues in the future.
Truly, I had the similar experience when I was in USA and my family was unable to contact my father due to his mobile breakdown. The authorities responded promptly on my tweet from US twitter account. Great Job. Thanks for your valuable services.
— Prakash Singh (@PrakashSingh179) September 30, 2019
Great job. God bless you all.
— DR.SUDEEP DEY (@sudeep59) September 30, 2019
Lovely ya…long live Indian Railways
— Pramod Gupta (@pmd1592) September 30, 2019
It's a nice gesture by Indian Railways, hope they will fix the train delays efficiently as this… 🙂👍
— Abhishek Mishra 🇮🇳 (@IamAPahadi) September 30, 2019
Lovely gesture. Connecting people ….as always
— JOJAN THOMASS (@JOJAN9999) September 30, 2019
Nobody wants trains to run late which is probably why IRCTC has taken a big step in this regard by contemplating compensation for passengers of the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express in case of delays. We hope other trains follow suit.