With the image of the Railways dwindling after a spate of incidents, the Western Railway (WR) is roping in Sachin Tendulkar to promote its initiatives. The initiatives include cleanliness at stations, cleaning of drains before rains, sensitive issues like trespassing and women safety. This comes at a time when the WR's image has been battered by Andheri bridge collapse, severe waterlogging in Nallasopara and even further north towards Gujarat.
Ravinder Bhakar, Chief Public Relations Officer, WR, said, "The issues of trespassing, women safety, and cleanliness have always been major areas of concern for the WR as these aspects are directly connected to our passengers."
This special awareness campaign will consist of various short video/audio recording clips of Sachin Tendulkar, which will be played on LCD/LED screens across WR for the next few months. The video clips will also be telecasted on popular TV channels, cinema houses, while the audio clips will be played at suburban stations and suburban trains.
Similarly, posters displaying these awareness messages will be displayed at prominent locations. Sachin Tendulkar can be seen appealing to passengers to travel safely by avoiding trespassing and stunts. Tendulkar also voiced his concern over the growing number of youngsters resorting to life-threatening stunts in trains. He has also created awareness to ensure women's security and cleanliness.
During his youth, Sachin traveled from Bandra to Churchgate for his practice sessions at Wankhede. "Tendulkar recollected that his coach, Ramakant Acharekar, was strict about timing and he and his cricketing friends would travel by the same train every day to be on time for their practice sessions," said a WR official. The master blaster is also seen promoting the Railway Helpline number 182 and mobile app in case of emergency for female commuters.
