Soon, railway passengers in Lucknow can hire someone to receive them at the station, takes care of the luggage and have them dropped at the desired destination in a cab through ‘concierge service’–a station-to-home drop facility offered on the Railway’s official ticketing website.
After successful experiment in New Delhi in January this year, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will launch its friendly ‘concierge service’ for passengers travelling in premium trains in the state capital this week. Passengers can choose this facility along with tickets booked online.
“Apart from the convenience to the passengers, the facility would also boost tourism,” said an IRCTC official at the Lucknow regional centre.
To begin with, the services would be available for the passengers of premium trains including Shatabadi Express, Pushpak Express, Lucknow Mail and Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express.
“For now we have limited the services to four trains and it would be expanded to more trains depending on the response,” he said. The ‘concierge service’ comes with a cab service, a porter and an escort to assist the train passenger.
“A person would receive the passenger who has availed of the facility, take care of the luggage, book a cab and drop the passenger at his/her desired destination under the facility,” said the official adding this would also help keeping a tab on touts. However, for each of these services, passengers have to pay premium 36 hours in advance only on the IRCTC website.
While the charges for the porter will be Rs 100 (for 40kg luggage) and Rs 200 (for 80kg), the charges of cab have been divided into different zones in the state capital.
