Whatsapp Helpline Of Indian Railways Is Being Misused; eTicketing Rise To 68%!

When Indian Railways launched a dedicated helpline on Whatsapp for passengers, then they expected some real problems.

But little did they knew that it would be misused, for sharing ‘good morning’ messages!

Meanwhile as per latest numbers coming in, eTicketing is increasing at a massive scale at Railways, and now, 68% of all tickets are booked online.

It seems Indian Railways is the biggest advertiser for Digital India campaign now!

Whatsapp Helpline From Railways Misused?

On July 31st, Western and Central Railways had established a dedicated Whatsapp helpline for assisting passengers on the go.

In yet another initiative towards #SwachhBharat & #SwachchaRail, WR has introduced WhatsApp No. 9004499733,which is manned 24X7. Commuters may WhatsApp pic of any uncleanliness at Stations/Pay & Use Toilets & also over charging by them at suburban stns between Churchgate & Virar pic.twitter.com/eIswOrgOkB

— Western Railway (@WesternRly) July 28, 2018

 

Whatsapp numbers 9004499773 is for Western Railways, and 9987645307 for Central Railways was launched with the purpose of assisting passengers with issues of cleanliness, and punctuality.

But little did they knew what will happen next.

As per Railways officials, these two helpline numbers are being mainly used to share Good Morning messages, funny jokes, shaiyaris, amusing poems and more.

As of now, only 25 real complaints have been received – 23 by Western Railways and 2 by Central Railways.

Ravinder Bhaker, WR spokesperson has confirmed that a dedicated person has been allocated to check the messages regularly, and to respond promptly.

In January this year, it was reported that Indians are #1 in the entire world to forward ‘Good Morning’ messages. In fact, Whatsapp’ servers experienced a rare breakdown, when more than 100 crore such messages were shared by Indians during New Year eve.

Interestingly, fake news and hatred messages are also shared vehemently on Whatsapp, and in order to check this, Whatsapp has now limited the number of forwards a user can send, and have labeled forwarded messages as well.

eTickets On Rise!

Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain has revealed that the number of online tickets booked is increasing at a rapid pace, thereby assisting PM Modi’s Digital India campaign.

As per the number shared, in June 2018, 68% of all tickets booked where online, which was 60% in 2016-17.

During 2017-18, e-tickets contributed 66% of all tickets booked.

Railways is conducting World’s largest recruitment drive, and by going 100% online, they will be saving 10 lakh trees.

We applaud the efforts taken by Indian Railways to promote cashless, and paperless economy, and we hope that it sets a precedent, everywhere.