Chennai Doctor Praises Indian Railways For Recovering His Lost Watch Within 50 Minutes

Travellers misplacing belongings during long-distance train journeys is not uncommon. To recover their items, some people take to social media, some contact the concerned authorities to file a complaint, and some do both. One such recent incident was narrated by a Vande Bharat passenger who forgot his watch in the train's restroom. His positive post has gone viral and received a lot of interest online. The passenger, a neurosurgeon from Chennai, took to X (formerly Twitter) to describe the entire incident in detail. He revealed that he was travelling on the Vande Bharat Express on October 17. After arriving at Egmore station, he realised that he had accidentally left his watch in the train's restroom. At 12:28 am, he raised a complaint on the RailMadad website by providing his PNR number along with coach and seat details.

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Surprisingly, his watch was recovered within 40 minutes. He shared a detailed timeline of the responses he received from the authorities:

• 12:31 am - Got a call from the Railway Helpline confirming the complaint.
• 12:34 am - Received an SMS from the Railway Helpline.
• 12:49 am - Got a call from RPF stating that the vehicle had gone to the yard and they had requested a check.
• 01:12 am - Received a WhatsApp message with two photos of his watch.
• 01:13 am - Got a second call from RPF confirming they had found a watch and wanted to verify if it was his.

Lauding the Southern Railways and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for their quick response to his complaint filed post-midnight, the passenger wrote, "This is amazing work from all concerned. To be frank, this isn't even a 'complaint.' There is nothing wrong with the railways. It was my mistake to keep the watch in the train. A dozen workers worked within 40 minutes of my complaint on the internet, at midnight, through no fault of their own."

He continued, "This morning, I went to the Station, gave a letter requesting the watch, xerox copies of my ticket, and Aadhar, and got back my watch after signing the register." He praised the dedicated workers of Southern Railways and the Railway Protection Force for their prompt action.

I traveled in Vande Bharat yesterday
Reached Egmore at 11 pm
Reached Home and realised that I kept by Wrist Watch in the Rest Room and forgot to take it back

12:28 am Lodged a Complaint in Railmadad Website : Gave my PNR Number, Coach and Seat details and written a brief… pic.twitter.com/wnrtR1XQEp

— 𝕲𝖚𝖗𝖚 𝕭𝖗𝖚𝖓𝖔 🇮🇳 (@spinesurgeon) October 18, 2025

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The official handle of Chennai Division, Southern Railway, responded to the above post, stating, "We sincerely thank you, Dr. @spinesurgeon, for sharing your experience! Glad to know our RPF & RailMadad teams could reunite you with your watch so swiftly. Your trust and appreciation motivate our staff to serve passengers even better."

We sincerely thank you, Dr. @spinesurgeon, for sharing your experience!

Glad to know our RPF & RailMadad teams could reunite you with your watch so swiftly.

Your trust and appreciation motivate our staff to serve passengers even better.

— DRM Chennai (@DrmChennai) October 18, 2025

X users had a lot to say about the incident. Read some of their reactions below:

Incredible service. Truly proud of Railways.

— Dr Satwinderr Singh (@DrSatwindrTweet) October 18, 2025

Unbelievable. Thanks for sharing. Didn't know such a portal exists with a quick turnaround time from railway support team

— Gaurav Chhabra (@TechieTrader_) October 18, 2025

This is how the Railway employees are working now a days. I got the AC repaired in a 2 tier coach within half hour of my SMS. I got my reseved seat within half hour after some misunderstanding, after my SMS. The TTE apologised for the goof up. There were three more instances of…

— Neelamraju Chandramohan (@vanichandra2010) October 18, 2025

Nice! Thanks for sharing the positivity 🙏🏽

— Somalaram Venkatesh (@serioustaurean) October 19, 2025

Yes even my sister forgot her bag in ahmedabad mumbai shatabdi..train went to Mumbai, TC called after 30min and sent mssg for confirmation based on her seat. Bag was returned next day when the same train reached ahmedabad! Good people exist!

— Suday (@Suday142229) October 18, 2025

The viral post has clocked 1 million views on X so far.

Disclaimer: NDTV does not vouch for the claims in the post by the X user.