If all goes well, long-distance passengers will no longer have to worry about lugging suitcases, haggling with coolies

LUGGING your heavy suitcases around while catching a long-distance train and paying through the nose to hire a coolie may soon be things of the past.


Passengers will no longer have to lug around their heavy luggage at platforms but will be able to use trolleys

For, railway authorities are planning to implement a trolley system, akin to the one in place at airports, at railway stations in the city.

The proposal was put forward by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee while announcing the railway budget last month. The trolley system has already been implemented at Howrah Station in West Bengal.

A K Singh, PRO, Central Railway, said, "The trolley system has already been implemented in Kolkata and we are planning to introduce it in railway stations in the city as well. We will initially be implementing it at the Lokmanya Tilak and Chhatrapati Shivaji terminuses."

On paper, Western Railway already has the carts in place at Mumbai Central station. However, most passengers, and even some WR officials themselves, are unaware of their existence.

"We have introduced the trolley system at Mumbai Central but there hasn't been a full-fledged deployment.

We are trying to make it useful for the passengers but we do not have a sufficient number of trolleys yet," said a railway official from Mumbai Central, requesting anonymity.

Methodology

Railway authorities are still debating whether to charge a nominal fee for allowing passengers to use the trolleys or to have uniformed attendants to prevent them from being misused or stolen. They plan to make the service available round the clock.

"We are still hammering out details like where the trolleys will be kept. We need to make sure they are safe because there is a good chance of them being stolen by people looking to make a quick buck," said the official.

"Having a separate counter from where passengers can collect carts by showing their confirmed tickets seems to be the most feasible option. Preference will be given to women and senior citizens," he added.

Passengers' take

While welcoming the move, passengers said they sympathise with the railways for the difficulty they will face in implementing the system.

Shanti Vasant, who regularly visits Chennai, said, "The carts will come as a boon for passengers. They will be especially helpful for women, senior citizens and the handicapped.
u00a0
I am not too sure how the railways will implement the system, though. It is going to be an uphill task.

"Coolies behave like gundas and charge obscene amounts for carrying luggage. The trolley system will definitely help but I don't think the collies will allow it to be implemented," said Srinath P, a regular passenger.

Ad-based model?
In Kolkata, trolleys have been provided and are looked after by the State Bank of India (SBI). No money has been spent by the railways and the SBI is recovering the costs byu00a0 renting advertising space on the trolleys. The same model is being planned for Mumbai.