Improper behaviour of railway staff, problems in passenger bookings, non-functioning of enquiry offices and late running of trains constitute majority of complaints against Indian Railway.

"While we have fixed the complaints into 21 categories, it has been found that 50 per cent of them are related to catering, cleanliness, punctuality of trains, functioning of enquiry offices and misbehaviour of staff," said a senior Railway ministry official involved in dealing with public grievances.

Complaints relating to cleanliness of stations and coaches, catering services, poor quality of bed-rolls are also pouring in from all over the country in a significant number.

There were total 23,507 complaints registered by common rail users against the Railways in 2006-07, which is seven per cent more than the previous year.

"As the number of trains is increasing complaints by rail users are also increasing each year," said the official.      

While 2,171 complaints were registered against railway staff for improper behaviour, complaints relating to passenger bookings touched 2,973 in 2006-07. There were 2,650 complaints against late running of trains.

There were 1,455 complaints against working of enquiry offices, 1,023 complaints against catering and vending services, 1,422 complaints relating to maintenance and cleanliness in coaches and stations lodged by rail users.      

There are also cases of non-availability of bed rolls (918), thefts and pilferages (244), bribery and corruption (277), non-availability of water (493), unauthorized passengers in coaches (208) and issues related to reservation.

Complaints against Railways are registered at four levels. Besides lodging a complaint at a railway station, one can also register it at divisional headquarters and zonal offices. A complaint can also be registered at Rail Bhavan.

"Complaints also come to us from PMO, Cabinet Secretariat and other ministries," said the official.