A major relief to all non-local passengers especially migrant professionals and students studying in local universities and colleges who has to leave their hometown and shift to other cities for further career purposes, the Indian railway has now introduced a two-wheeler paid packaging service for such traveler to facilitate such passengers in carrying their personal mode of transport along with them safely.
Railway has also advised interested passengers to secure the vehicle with cushion material in order to avoid any kind of damage during the journey in parcel van, however since no packaging service was available at railway stations, passengers were forced to do the packing by themselves and then brought it to the railway station for parcel booking, or pay a hefty sum to touts for package and parcel.
Now Agra division of NCR zone, Lucknow division of NER, and NR zone have introduced the service in Agra Cantt, Agra Fort, Mathura junction, Lucknow junction, Charbagh, Varanasi junction, and Gorakhpur junction.
Divisional commercial manager Prashasti Srivastava of the Agra division, said, “On an average in total 25 two-wheelers are daily booked from three prominent stations of the division, a large number of migrant professionals, students, and other passengers shift or leave for the national capital or towards Mumbai and other cities. This also leads to the large number of two-wheelers booking for transportation. Considering this, we have outsourced the facility of packaging two-wheeler to a private agency.”
Before the two-wheeler is booked for parcel van service, the fuel from the vehicle is removed.
“Earlier the passengers had to deal with touts and bargain to get proper packaging of vehicles. Further, the lack of awareness of railway rules created difficulties for passengers in booking the parcel. But after outsourcing the service, not only is the railway generating revenue but the passenger is also being charged standard rates with better quality service,” she said.
The Agra division is annually earning Rs 5 lakh as revenue from outsourcing, while the Lucknow division of NR is earning Rs 3.67 lakh.
Places like Agra Cantt, Agra Fort, and Mathura outsource agencies are charging around Rs 500 + GST, whereas in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur the charges are between Rs 300 and Rs 100 for bicycles excluding 18% GST.
