This is a short write-up on my thoughts and experience with Indian Railways Complaint Portal - The RailMadad. I hope you like it.

I've always had this question whenever I open Railmadad:
Should you raise complaints on Railmadad? Is it just a waste of time?
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Whenever I see something lacking on Indian Railways, I raise a complaint with Railmadad. These complaints have ranged from the coach attendants not being in uniform to the Indian Flags on the locomotives not being proper.

I would like to highlight one incident that answered the above question. At the end of the year 2022, I had gone to receive my relatives at Thane Railway Station who were onboard the 16340/Nagercoil - Mumbai CSMT Express (Via Katpadi) (PT). Previously, I had been to Thane railway station multiple times to receive my relatives and it was a practice that they never made announcements of any UP outstation trains coming into Thane and going towards CSMT. You always had to do the guesswork and with the volume of suburban traffic at Thane, the trains used to arrive at Platform 6 or Platform 8.

This time again I thought I should raise a complaint as this is the basic right of passengers to know the arrival details. I did not have any hopes as I received a call from the control room and they informed me that they would take action against the responsible executive if found guilty and impose a fine on them. The usual drafted response was added to the complaint and it was closed. As usual, I gave a 1-star response as I was almost sure that no action was going to be taken.

On 11th July 2023, I had to go to Thane Station to see off one of my relatives. As usual, I arrived at the station early and was surprised to hear the announcement that 12052/Madgaon - Mumbai CSMT Jan Shatabdi Express was arriving on Platform no 8. I then thought as this is a premium train, they might have announced it as an exception. After some time, I heard the announcement for 12106/Vidarbha SF Express (PT) on Platform no 5.

I smiled to myself and thought there would have been some contribution from my side for this welcome change and got the answer to the above question Should we raise complaints on Railmadad?

After seeing off my relatives, I went to PF 4 to board the 2nd last local for the day. I saw an Empty Rake crawling into PF 4 without an announcement. Many passengers with luggage were getting into the local not knowing that it will go to the siding. I then had to ask them to get off and you know what I did next.

Logged on to RailMadad and added a new complaint!!!

The next day, I received a call from the control room and they took all the details. The executive informed me that they had already imposed multiple fines on the announcement teams at Thane in the past and would do at this instance too if found guilty.

I smiled and disconnected the call.

Vivek

P.S.: Next time you are at Thane Railway Station, check if announcements are made for Outstation Trains going in the UP Direction. If not then you know what to do.