New Delhi, Apr 27 (IANS): In a bid to address the grievances of passengers during the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus, the Indian Railways emergency cell has responded to over 13,000 calls on a daily basis.

A railway ministry spokesperson said that railway emergency cell for Covid-19 is a comprehensive nationwide unit comprising of about 400 officers and staff from railway board to divisions.

"During the lockdown, the cell has been responding to about 13,000 queries, requests and suggestions everyday, from five communication and feedback platforms - helplines 139 and 138, social media, email and CPGRAMS. And more than 90 per cent of the queries were responded on one-to-one basis, mostly in the local language of the caller, over telephone," he said.

The official said that due to this 24-hour working railways emergency cell for Covid-19 had its ears to the ground, leading to fleet-footed response to redress grievances of both Railways' customers and general public.

He said that even RailMadad Helpline 139 answered over 2,30,000 queries on one-on-one basis in first four weeks of the lockdown, in addition to queries answered by its IVRS facility.

"During the same period, over 1,10,000 calls were received on Helpline 138, which is geo-fenced, that is, calls land on the nearest railway divisional control office (manned round-the-clock by railway personnel well-versed in local language and familiar with local issues) as per the location of the caller," he said.

The railways has suspended passenger, mail and express train services until further orders to combat the spread of Covid-19. Only freight and special train services are running to ensure the supply of essential goods across the country.