Indian Railways has launched “Meri Saheli” initiative for focused action on security of women across all zones with an objective to provide safety and security to lady passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey from starting station to destination station.

An initiative of Railway Protection Force (RPF), the strategy of the initiative entails interaction with lady passengers especially those travelling alone by a team of young lady RPF personnel at the originating station. These lady passengers are briefed about all precautions to be taken during the journey and told to dial 182 in case they face or see any problem in the coach, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on Thursday (29 October).

The RPF team collects only the seat numbers of the ladies and conveys them to stoppages en-route. The platform duty RPF personnel at the stopping stations en-route keep unobtrusive watch over the concerned coaches and berths and if need arises, interact with the lady passengers.

RPF/RPSF escort onboard also covers all the coaches/identified berths during its duty period, the ministry said.

RPF teams at the destination collect the feedback from the identified lady passengers. The feedback is then analysed and corrective action, if any, is taken. If some distress call comes from a train covered under “Meri Saheli” initiative, the disposal of the call is monitored at the level of senior officers, it said.

The “Meri Saheli” initiative was started as a pilot project in South Eastern Railway in September 2020 and after getting encouraging response from lady passengers, it was extended to all zones from 17 October 2020, the ministry added.