Indian Railways: Online and SMS Complaint Redressal

The Indian Railways have launched a new service, which provides a passenger an opportunity to lodge a complaint against any service provided by the department. A suggestion can also be given to improve the Railway service!

The complaint lodging service has been linked to the homepage of Indian Railway website.

On visit to the link on website (www.indianrailways.gov.in), you will find a box with "Complaints & Suggestions". On clicking Submit button, Complaints & Suggestions Registration Form opens. Supporting documents can also be sent as attachment.

I hope, this would be a great help to the passenger who suffers!

Great feedback! Thanks, Prakaant.

I only wish somebody regularly and religiously monitors the reported complaints/suggestions and take remedial actions so that the complainant get due justice and redressal. Knowing the track record of Indian Railways, I am a bit skeptical about the matter. Nevertheless, it is an welcome change.

Let's hope for the best. At least some positive sign is there. It was long overdue!!

Going by the way how pretty much all such government facades work, I suspect it would be just another instance of a black hole! I'd be very happy to be proven wrong, however.
.

Dear Friends,

This may be useful.
Indian Railways have introduced a new system, so that you can complain from the running train. You furnish the train no, bogie no and the precise nature of complaint like fan not working, no water in the bathroom or substandard caterers food etc through SMS to NO 8121281212. It is an effective tool. There is one more number. 919717630982 for train complaints.

Regards,
Balusatya

This may be ONLY for SCR and NOT all of IR.

Two threads have been merged and the title amended.

There is a related update on the thread Will dense fog in Delhi ruin my travel? by Dave to check the arrival/departure of a train for Northern Railway! He has quoted:

"Delhi Division of Northern Railway has achieved another milestone today by introducing SMS services to the passengers for information regarding Arrival/Departure of trains. The passenger has to send the 5 digit train number through SMS to 9717631813 and the system will automatically generate the reply of the query."

Thank you Dave!

this is really a handy piece of information - thanks prakaant, balusathiya and machadinha

From an email note that I received today, passengers can SMS complaints (even from a running train!) to the Indian Railways which are addressed quickly.

I have not tried this personally. So, I am posting this for the benefit of other IM'ers. Will be great to hear about their personal experiences.

Indian Railways Complaints can be SMS'ed to 8121281212

Related email as received below.
~~~~~~


From M.V.Ramana Murthy ,

Incident 1

It happened few months back. We were traveling and me & family were waiting in the A/C waiting room at Secunderabad Station. The attached bathroom was not clean and was giving bad smell. Added to this discomfiture, the bathroom door was not closing tight, and I also observed that shutter was not closing tight because of faulty door closer. I complained to the attendant .

I also sent an SMS " The bathroom of A/C waiting room on platform No 1 of Secunderbad Station is dirty and stinking. Pl arrange cleaning . Also the door is not closing properly". After few minutes we left the waiting room as our train arrival was announced. Within few minutes I received text reply from Railways, giving an Id No and that action will be taken . After few hours I received a message that the bathroom has been cleaned . After ten days I received another message that the faulty door has been repaired and thanking me.

Incident 2

Recently on 24 th October I and my wife were traveling by Hyderabd Ajmeer Express on our Rajasthan trip. Next day morning, I noticed there was no water in the bathroom and the taps are all dry, whereas our journey will continue and we will be reaching our destination ( Bhilwara near Ajmeer) after another 18 hours. I was worried that it is going to be a miserable time to travel without water. Water or No water, people will continue to use the bathrooms and the stink will become unbearable. I complained to the Conductor. I also sent a SMS "Traveling in the A1 compartment of Hyderabad Ajmeer express train No 12720. No water in the bathrooms . Pl arrange. Also replace leaking valves else problem repeats." Pat came the reply" Your reference id is 1110250019. For status visit www.scr.indianrailways.in. or SMS as STATUS<SPACE> <id> TO 8121281212 . Thanks for registering complaint " .

After about 20 minutes I received message that water will be filled at the nearest Railway station having water filling facility. At Itarsi station, water was filled and we had no problem . After about a week I received another message that the faulty valves have been replaced . It was amazing.

I am thankful to the Railway authorities for introducing a system where one can complain from a running train even and doubly grateful that they have acknowledged the complaint and attended.

I collected this help line number from the Railway waiting room !

Many times while traveling by train we are put to unexpected inconvenience, we react by cursing and criticizing. No other response. Of course once we reach our destination we just forget.

There is no use in cursing the darkness around you, do light a candle however small it be, it gives an inspiration and ten more candles will be lit . The process continues reducing the darkness.

The Railway Number to which you can SMS is 8121281212 . Please pass on this message to your friends and it may help some one in need including you

Is the referred number is common for all the railway zones?

you forgot to add:
...and then I woke up from the dream as the train reached the destination.

i noted this online complaint system; http://customercare.indianrailways.g...iscm/home.seam

i logged 2 complaints, received SMS & e-mails.
after about 2 weeks, i wanted to check if any progress has been made. interestingly, when i provide the complaint details, the error says 'complaint does not exist'!!!

For the same purpose I've used the number 09717630982. I've used this number twice & both times got positive result- one time regarding shortage of water in the coach & next time regarding cleaning of coach.

There seems to be some confusion here.

1. crvlvr in his Post (Post No.#1) discussed about lodging complaints throgh SMS and referred to Phone (obviously a Mobile Phone) No. 8121281212.
2. I wanted to know whether the above referred Phone No. is common for all railway zones (Post #2).
3. paramiyer in his Post (No. #3) seemingly referred to Online Complaints Booking System (Not Complaint Booking through SMS).
4. Lastly, anilkv in Post No. #4 provided another Mobile Phone No.09717630982 and has stated that he had lodged complaints twice and got the desired response in both the cases.

The point here is (1) whether a Complaint Lodging System through SMS has been put in place by Indian Railways, (2) if so, whether there is one or more common Mobile No. earmarked for this purpose irrespective of different Railway Zones or the numbers are Zone specific, and (3) finally, whether this system is effective or not.

For Point No.3, we can have debate and share various experiences, but before that we should know the system in totality. Can some one please explain this new system reported to have been introduced by the Indian Railways recenly? Thanks.

An update:

While searching IM forum to look for similar thread, I came across this thread: Indian Railways: Online and SMS Complaint Redressal
Post No.#5 of this thread contains exactly same info and same phone number. But in the very next Post, it says that this system is applicable only for SCR and not for all the Railwasys across India. The issue remained unresolved in the said thread.

More confusion! What our Railways experts say in this matter?