Railways forgets to wake up passenger, fined Rs. 5,000
A consumer grievance forum has fined Railways Rs. 5,000 for failing to wake up a passenger who had registered on its wake-up alert services. Advocate Girish Garg of MP was travelling to Kota on the Coimbatore-Jaipur Superfast Express on June 13, 2015, and called customer care on 139 to request destination-alert services. He didn't receive any notification, but managed to wake up at Kota.
We don't charge for service, hence no 'deficiency': Railways
In its defence, Railways said no fee had been charged for the service, hence there was no "deficiency in service" as Garg mentioned in his complaint. However, the forum ordered it to pay Rs. 5,000 plus Rs. 2,000 as Garg's legal expenses; he had initially sued the railways for Rs. 20,000.
Railways' wake-up alert service notifies passengers 30 mins ahead
The wake-up alert and destination alert services were launched in 2015. A passenger can call on 139 to register, and a notification would be sent 30 minutes prior to scheduled arrival at the destination. Users would be asked PNR number, station name, and STD code.