Disgusted with dirty linen, stinking toilets and untidy coaches? Just have patience till November.

In a fitting run-up to Diwali, passengers boarding trains from Ranchi and Hatia will be able to register their gripes in real time with the South Eastern Railway.

Buoyed by the success of their on-board housekeeping service, introduced on select trains in Ranchi division in March, the railway authorities are now planning to top-up amenities by introducing an SMS-based grievance redress system. All passengers need to do is send a text to 58888, and they can expect their troubles to be sorted within no time.

Senior divisional commercial manager Niraj Kumar said the SMS service would first be launched for trains with on-board housekeeping and later rolled out to others.

"Anyone dissatisfied with cleanliness can SMS the problem to the helpline, mentioning train and coach numbers. An SMS will be sent to the housekeeping manager and other senior officials who in return will alert/direct staff to attend to the problem," Kumar said.

He added that the SMS service would allow passengers to get their grievances redressed without having to leave their berths or engaging in ugly confrontations with anyone.

In March, on-board housekeeping had kicked off in 10 trains, including Hatia-Pune biweekly, Jharkhand Swarnajayanti Express, Hatia-Yeswantpur Express, Hatia-Mumbai Express, New Delhi Garib Rath and Jharkhand Sampark Kranti Express.

A railway official of the mechanical division maintained that trains with travel time of more than 10-12 hours had been chosen for the service on an experimental basis, and the response had been good. "If you have travelled on any of these trains in recent times, you will admit that cleanliness and hygiene have improved although there is more that can be done," he said.

Under the on-board housekeeping service, trained personnel - armed with modern equipment and led by a supervisor - are deployed on trains for real-time monitoring of cleanliness and complaints. "At times, however, passengers claim that the staff lack promptness in attending their calls. So, the SMS system will plug gaps fully," the official said.

He added that they were also laying emphasis on achieving overall cleanliness off-board as well. "Both Ranchi and Hatia stations now have superior quality, theft-proof and stainless steel dustbins in place of plastic ones. Around 25 public toilets are currently under renovation, which will further up the sanitation quotient at these stations."

Do you think the SMS service will ensure cleaner coaches?

Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com