Penetration of internet even in remote corners has given an edge for the railways to receive and respond to feedbacks on social media as quick as possible in the recent past. Connecting with passengers through social media will improve if the railways starts utilising WhatsApp facility in addition to its existing extensive reach through Facebook or Twitter, says 80-year-old retired scientist and former Member of the Railway Consultative Committee R.S. Lal Mohan, echoing the opinion of rail passengers.

The need of the hour is to introduce dedicated WhatsApp numbers at zonal and divisional-levels to receive feedback and to set up quick response system, as WhatsApp is an easy way of communication handled by common man than Facebook or Twitter, says D. Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev, general secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation and secretary General of All India Public Sector and Central Government Officers Confederation. The Indian Railways recently launched WhatsApp business app. This can be tapped to interact with passengers to redress their grievances, says a railway official.

The Salem Division of the Southern Railways received 56 complaints last month on its official Twitter Handle @SalemDRM. Majority of these are about cleanliness of coaches, water shortage, unauthorised passengers in reserved coaches and punctuality of trains and all were addressed as quick as possible. The average time taken to attend to redress a complaint received on Twitter was 21 minutes and the average time in responding to a Tweet was one minute.