New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The Railway Board has asked all zones and divisions to create war rooms with adequate officials to actively monitor and address passengers’ complaints received through RailMadad.
RailMadad, the grievance redressal mechanism, is an integrated complaint-resolution initiative under which a passenger can lodge a complaint or give suggestions by calling 139 or using an application or portal.
Railway Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satish Kumar, during his recent inspection visits to divisions, found that a proper war room is unavailable in many of them.
“Complaints like non-availability of water, coach cleanliness, etc, lodged in RailMadad portal (of a division/zone) are simply forwarded to the next division/zone without taking immediate steps for rectification through active monitoring,” his inspection note marked to various zones and divisions said.
Expressing concerns over the poor condition of the grievance redressal mechanism at the Divisional Control Office, the Railway Board said in its note, “All divisions and zones should have a war room to actively monitor RailMadad complaints.” Some divisions have started implementing the Board’s directions asking the concerned departments to deploy officials in the war room.
For instance, the divisional railway manager of Prayagraj wrote on February 7, 2025 to the Engineering and Electrical Department along with the Railway Protection Force to depute its officials in the division’s war room for immediate and qualitative redressal of passengers’ complaints.
“In many divisions, staff from only the commercial department has been deputed in the war room who can deal with only ticket-related complaints. But passengers raise all sorts of grievances such as unavailability of water, non-functioning of ACs, loss of their belongings, among others,” a railway official said.
At present, since many divisions don’t have concerned officials in their war rooms to handle such issues, many passengers’ grievances are being forwarded to other divisions for redress and many of them remain unaddressed, officials said.
According to the officials, the Railway Board wants to strengthen the RailMadad mechanism for timely resolution of all complaints.
A Railway Board official said that Kumar inspected some divisions with an aim to find out the current status of war rooms and suggest ways to strengthen them with required initiatives.
“When a passenger lodges a complaint through RailMadad app or portal or his social media handle, it is supposed to be immediately forwarded to the war room of the division in which the train is running. If the said war room has officials from all departments, it will be addressed quickly,” the official said. PTI JP KVK KVK
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