Railways to establish modern call centers to facilitate passengers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways will establish Modern Call Centers by replacing old inquiry system to provide maximum facilities to the passengers.

“In this regard bids have been opened and the services of multi-national companies will have to be hired to setup latest Call Centers,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

To a question, the official said the government has taken several steps to meet the international standard in passenger sector of Pakistan Railways since June 2013.

“A new passenger reservation system has been introduced including e-ticketing and now passengers can book their ticket online.

It will be a new culture of reservation and passenger facilitation,” he added.

He said that introduction of value added trains has been started and the department has completed value addition of Karachi Express, Karakurum Express, Green Line and Business Express.

“Modern facilities like Wi-Fi, complimentary newspaper, drinking water, tea and lunch /dinner and public address system have been introduced in these trains,” he added.

He said Pakistan Railways has introduced hand held digital devices for computerized reservation in trains and ticketless checking etc.

Train managers in order to address issues of passengers on the spot have been introduced.

“SMS alert service for passengers has been launched for green line train and in future the facility will be extended to passengers of all trains,” the official added.

He said that Pakistan Railways is installing Computer Based Interlocking System (CBIS) on its track in order to enhance capacity and improve safety of the train operations.

In the freight sector, the official said Pakistan Railways has inducted modern Ho-per Trucks to deal with bulk transportation of coal and 4000-4500 Horse Power freight specific locomotives have been added in the existing fleet.

To a question, he said that no discount in tickets is being granted by Pakistan Railways to in service or retired employees of armed forces and given no discount to other government employees as well.