Mumbai: To avoid any set back by delayed door closings, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has decided to ensure that passengers do not carry excess luggage while travelling in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express premium trains. IRCTC officials said they will be charging more than Rs 100 if passengers have excess luggage.
“We have decided to strictly implement railways’ luggage policy and will levy excess luggage charge on passengers who carry luggage above 70 kg in Executive chair car and over 40 kg in chair car. A similar policy is applicable in other long-distance trains but it has not been implemented due to lack of manpower and absence of weighing scales,” said an IRCTC official.
Tejas Express takes six hours to complete its journey from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and it has an automated door-closing system. If passengers carry excess luggage, it will lead to delay in closing of the door thereby delaying the journey. “There are three attendants including rail hostesses in one coach who are being instructed to check luggage weight before passengers board the train,” he said.
“Action against excess luggage is necessary on two counts — to ensure adequate luggage storing capacity in coaches for all passengers and to ensure passengers are able to alight from the train quickly before the door gets closed.”
The Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express was flagged off on January 17 and made its commercial run from January 19.
