Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train: Passengers travelling on the upcoming high-speed train, connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad, may have to pay more for the luggage they check-in. The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), which is executing the country’s first-ever bullet train project, plans to charge the passengers for the bags they check-in, to discourage travellers from carrying heavy luggage, according to an HT report. Every coach in the bullet train will contain sufficient space for hand baggage. However, some seats in the last coach will likely be removed in order to create space for the extra check-in luggage, for which train passengers may have to pay extra- a first-of-its-kind move for a train in India.
The upcoming bullet train in India, known as the Shinkansen in Japan, is capable of hitting speeds of up to 350 kmph. According to NHSRCL, in Japan, passengers are used to travelling light and on their bullet trains, apart for check-in luggage, no extra space is kept. The train sets that are meant for India will be redesigned in order to accommodate luggage. Also, it is being said that there will be a specified dimension for both hand and check-in baggage. Achal Khare, Managing Director of NHSRCL was quoted in the report saying that the idea is to discourage travellers from carrying heavy luggage. He said the motive behind this is not to earn money from people but to promote a certain behaviour. If carrying luggage is made free, then there will be no control, he said.
Just like Shatabdi Express, the coaches of the bullet train will have overhead bins for storing hand baggage. According to Khare, this is different from Japan as they do not have the culture of carrying heavy luggage. Thus, the NHSRCL is planning to create a separate space for heavy luggage. The travellers will be allowed to take hand baggage with them, but they will have to book in advance to carry heavy luggage. Moreover, those who book space for check-in luggage will be given seats in the same coach where space for the luggage will be made. To accommodate luggage, the NHSRCL will have to remove a few seats, which will reduce the train capacity.
The NHSRCL is yet to decide on the charges it will levy for check-in luggage as well as the weight limitation. According to Khare, at the time of the detailed project report (DPR), the proposed fare was 1.5 times of the first AC fare of the Indian Railways’ train. The corporation is yet to take a call for the charges related to luggage, he said.
The deadline to complete the bullet train project is 15 August 2022. However, the NHSRCL plans to open a section of the high-speed rail network by then and complete the entire project by December 2023. Financial Express Online has earlier reported that initially, the bullet train network will have 24 train sets of which 18 will come from Japan while the rest six will be manufactured here in India.