Close on the heels of the incident where the Ministry of Railways came to the rescue of a woman passenger who tweeted that she was feeling harassed on the train, here’s another heart-warming incident that shows us we have a Railways with a Heart.
A passenger on the Yesvantpur-Bikaner train, Pankaj Jain, was travelling with his father who suffered from paralysis. Pankaj was taking him to Butati Dham where free treatment is offered. The closest stop to this was Merta Road.
The train stopped there for just 3-5 minutes, and Pankaj did not know how he would manage to alight from the train with his ailing father in that short span of time. He also needed wheelchair assistance.
“I called my friend, who is a doctor in Bengaluru, who suggested that I ask for help via twitter. I tweeted to the rail ministry on November 28 at around 6-7pm, asking for the train to be stopped for 10 minutes, for a wheelchair and for assistance in getting my father down at Merta Road,” Jain told HT.
His friend asked him to tweet to the railway authorities. And that’s exactly what he did.
@DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @RailMinIndia Cn d train 16587 to stop at merta road for 10 mins than usual 3 mins tom mng?cn I get wheelchair?
— Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 28, 2015
@DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @RailMinIndia I m traveling with my dad who is a paralysis patient. Need an assistance. @dr_asr — Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 28, 2015
He heard back within minutes.
@pankajjain86 @DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @dr_asr @sureshpprabhu Please send PNR or coach number
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 28, 2015
What’s more, the station master and his staff were waiting to assist his father at the station!
@RailMinIndia in this Cold weather the station master wit staff were waiting for us on platform @DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @sureshpprabhu — Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 29, 2015
@RailMinIndia wit a wheelchair as my dad is bedridden patient. And everyone did cooperate & @DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @sureshpprabhu
— Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 29, 2015
@RailMinIndia and helped us to get down of train n move out till the gate. Grt effort. Kudos. @DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway @sureshpprabhu — Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 29, 2015
Pankaj was truly touched by the efforts of the proactive ministry and all the persons involved. He expressed his gratitude with a photo with his father and a tweet.
@sureshpprabhu @dr_asr @RailMinIndia @DRMJodhpurNWR @GMNWRailway Thank you for this.. pic.twitter.com/lhSmZfo6g3
— Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 29, 2015
Take a bow, Ministry of Railways, Suresh Prabhu and all you wonderful people who are making our train journeys better, safer and more enjoyable!
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