Much needs to be done before Railways thinks about enforcing weight restriction
IF RAILWAYS WANT THE PASSENGERS TO BOOK THEIR EXCESS BAGGAGE IN THE LUGGAGE VAN, THERE IS NEED FOR PROPER TAGGING AND DEMARCATION OF THE BAGGAGE
On the face of it, the Railways’ decision to strictly enforce weight restrictions on passengers’ baggage sounds good. It will remove the clutter and congestion in railway coaches and the resultant inconvenience to passengers.
However, before implementing it, Railways has to first provide an adequate number of weighing scales at railway stations, for the benefit of passengers who wish to weigh their baggage. And all the weighing scales have to be duly verified and certified by the department of legal metrology, so that there is no inconsistency in the weighment at different stations. Without these arrangements in place, it would be unfair to penalise passengers, particularly those travelling by non-ac coaches, for exceeding the free baggage allowance.
I refer here particularly to passengers travelling by non-ac second class coaches because unlike those travelling by AC coaches, these passengers are unlikely to have a weighing scale at home and would find it extremely difficult to determine the weight of their bags. So with the threat of an unreasonably high penalty — six times the luggage scale rate — hanging over their heads, they would all try to get their baggage weighed at the railway station. And if Railways is unable to provide adequate number of weighing scales to meet this demand, one can well imagine the chaos, the confusion and even the skirmishes that will ensue, as passengers stand in long queues to get their baggage weighed.
So, in order to implement the baggage rules, Railways have to first educate the passengers on the restrictions on the weight and the size of the baggage (I am glad Railways has said that this would be done). Second, ensure that the weighing scales at all railway stations are easily accessible, verified and stamped as required under the Legal Metrology Act.
I am underlining the impor- tance of accuracy of these scales because there have been many instances in the past of passengers paying the price for the inconsistencies in the weighing scales at different stations. I particularly remember one such complaint that came up before the consumer court many years ago. The complainant KN Pratap Kumar, a student, had got his four pieces of baggage weighed at the New Delhi Railway Station before embarking on a journey to Bengaluru by Karnataka Express.
The weighing scales showed the total weight of his bags to be 70kg and so he had paid ₹100 for excess baggage and obtained a receipt.
However at Hindupur, his baggage was weighed by Railways officials and this time it indicated the weight to be 90 kg. And he was forced to pay a sixfold penalty of ₹812 for the “undeclared excess baggage” of 20kg. Irked by this, Kumar filed a complaint before the consumer court, saying that he cannot be held liable for the inaccuracies of Railways’ weighing machines. The consumer court agreed and asked Railways to refund the fine imposed on him and also pay compensation.
So it’s all very well for Rail- ways to come down heavily on passengers for violating baggage rules, but the service provider too needs to comply with the Legal Metrology Act t hat requires the use of only verified machines and also periodical verification and stamping.
Similarly, if Railways want the passengers to book their excess baggage in the luggage van, there is need for proper tagging and demarcation of the baggage, besides dedicated personnel to hand over the bags to the passengers when they disembark, particularly at stations where trains halt only briefly. Will Railways be able to do all this efficiently without causing undue harassment to the passengers? Unless Railways makes adequate preparations, I can foresee a number of complaints before the consumer court.