New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS): Passengers of Rajdhani and Shatabdi will now get text messages on their mobile phones if their scheduled trains get delayed by more than an hour.

Currently, the SMS messages are being sent to wait-listed passengers after the confirmation of their berths.

Railways made the much-needed facility operational on Saturday for all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project, adding that the SMS facility would be extended to other trains too in a phased manner.

Developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the information technological arm of the Railways, the SMS facility is considered to be an important service for passengers.

The official said in order to avail this facility, passengers are advised to mention their mobile numbers on the reservation slips.

It is a passenger-friendly free service for which the Railways bear the cost of SMS.

There was a trial run of the service on a few Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

There were a few glitches found during the trial run which were addressed. Now the service is fully operational in all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, he said.

There are total 23 pairs of Rajdhani and 26 pairs of Shatabdi trains running across the country.

Though Railways has increased the speed of many trains to reduce travel time, some trains are running late due to various reasons like track repair.