A passenger travelling on a overnight between Mumbai and Chiplun had to settle for an RAC seat after they couldn’t get a confirmed berth. This meant they had to share the seat with another passenger. Annoyingly,
the two passengers, already having to share a seat, found a ticketless man occupying their shared seat. The duo promptly asked the ticketless passenger to vacate their seat. The unidentified man then informed the two that he would deboard the train on the next station but did not do so for a couple of hours. This prompted one of the passengers to raise a complaint with the Indian Railways via Rail Madad app.
The passenger, who later shared the incident on Reddit’s r/indianrailways, alleged that received a call from Konkan Railways division within five minutes of registering the online complaint against the unauthorised traveller.
“Since it was a night train, I raised a complaint through Rail Madad using the WhatsApp link from the RailOne app and uploaded a photo. Within five minutes, I got a call from the Konkan Railway division to verify the issue. I confirmed that the person was ticketless. By that time, the guy had quietly left, and more people had boarded the reserved coach,” u/Former-Lock1350 wrote.
So what happened next?
“Response Was Fast But…”
The passenger alleged that multiple personnel of RPF/GRP entered the coach where they had booked the ticket. The authorities then asked the complainant about the seat details and clicked a photo of their ticket.
The passenger, who wrote the Reddit post, added that they were impressed by the quick response time but added that the interaction could have been discrete.
“The response time was impressive, but the way it was handled felt unnecessarily loud and a bit risky. Calling out the complainant so openly in a crowded coach isn’t ideal — especially when there are multiple ticketless passengers around. Things could easily escalate if someone takes offence,” they wrote.
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However, the incident, as stated by the OP, did not escalate as the seat dispute was resolved on its own after the man, occupying the RAC seat, deboarded minutes after the complaint was registered.
What Is Rail Madad?
Trains overcrowded with passengers carrying waiting-list tickets is an inconvenience that passengers with confirmed tickets face on a regular basis. While the obvious step to deal with such a situation is to approach the person(s) and politely ask them to vacate your seat. When you are met with refusal or excuses like the passenger in the Reddit post did, the next step is to alert the Indian Railways.
Rail Madad is a streamlined and efficient method for passengers to resolve the seat disputes without the risk of escalation that may unfold when someone decides to stand their ground and take charge.
How To File A Complaint?
A passenger can visit railmadad.indianrailways.gov.in/ and fill a form to raise a complaint against ticketless or waiting-list passengers.
Step 1: Enter mobile number
Step 2: Enter OTP
Step 3: Enter PNR number
Step 4: Fill Grievance Description / Enter Complaint
Step 5: Enter Incident Date
Step 6: Upload supporting documents (PDF, JPEG, PNG, MP4) not exceeding 5MB.
Alternatively, a passenger can also download RailOne, the official Indian Railways app (available on Android and iOS store), to file a complaint to resolve the issues.
Quick Resolution, Feedback
Indian Railways promises to resolve the issue within 20-30 minutes. TTE or RPF personnel in Redditor’s case, will personally visit the disputed seat and offer a swift resolution to the passenger carrying a confirmed ticket. According to Rail Madad, 94% of the complaints get resolved within 2-3 hours.
Once the issue is resolved, the passenger is also provided with the Feedback form to rate their satisfaction with the service.
Additionally, complaints can be made on 139 Helpline. The grievance can also be registered on social media.
