LOADING THE BIKE IN THE TRAIN

Riders always prefer to ride to a particular destination but sometimes, time, money or emergency forces them to load the bike in the train. Though loading the bike is an equally monumental task, given below is the usual procedure followed at most of the railway stations in India.


Firstly, you can book the bike as parcel or luggage, depends on whether you are traveling with the bike in the train or just sending it.

Rates differ, but the main difference is parcel office remain open 24 hrs for delivery.

There are usually three coaches for loading on the train, out of them one will be Direct Coach or Seal Coach, this coach is sealed at the station from where the train departs and is opened only at the last destination. Best bet is to load the bike in the Seal/Direct coach, as this coach is not opened unlike other coaches which are opened at major stations on the way for reloading. Reloading is done very fast at these stations so stuff will be thrown on the bike for sure.

But Seal Coach has one drawback, sometimes it is opened the next day, the sealed coach is taken to the yard and opened the next day.

Never go to the loading agent first to take the details, go personally to the parcel office first and inquire about the rate for loading the bike, direct or other coach, charges are the same.

After you know the rate for loading, catch an agent who will help you fill up the form, pack and load the bike.

Rs.200-250 is enough for this job( Filling the form, packing and loading the bike in the coach). Don't pay all the money in advance; tell him full money will be given only after the bike is loaded.

Now while filling up the loading form, they will ask you to value the bike, evaluation is for insurance, so if you value it for Rs.30,000 another 300 Rs. will be added to the usual fare, for Rs.50,000 insurance will be 500 Rs. Going by the long process of insurance, simply evaluate the bike for 10,000 bucks and pay only additional 100 bucks.


According to the new railway rule, a metal plate is required to be tied on the packing, which will spell out the destination details. Make sure you carry a small plate with you when you go to the parcel office the day you load your bike.

Going a day before and booking the bike is a must to avoid last minute running around, especially if you have a morning train. Your bike will be safe at the Railway's parcel office for one day.

Take original and Xerox copy of the bike registration and railway ticket for booking the bike.

Remove all the petrol from the bike before packing.

For packing, you can go to the Enfield dealer and ask him for the thermocol covers which comes on new bikes when they are shifted from the Enfield factory in Chennai, These covers are for petrol tank and side boxes only.

On reaching the final destination, after the bike is de-loaded, take the inspector's signature on the receipt who will be supervising the particular coach.

With that receipt and ticket go to the parcel office, they will authenticate the receipt and send you to Octroi department, who will ask you to pay Octroi charges as your bike is from a different state.

Octroi department will sign on the receipt only after getting convinced that you are touring the state, or simply tell them you are on a all India Tour. They will pass your bike immediately. After the octroi department's signature, again go to the platform where your bike is, show the receipt signed by octroi department to the inspector. Then you can drag your bike to the parcel office, remember you are not allowed to remove the packing until you leave the railway premises.

At the parcel dispatch office, on showing the receipt and the railway ticket, they will give you the delivery receipt.

After that with that receipt drag your bike outside the station, where one copy of the receipt has to be given to the police officer at the gate, than finally you can remove the packing from the bike.

Phew! Long process, told you it's a monumental job, so be patient and be ready to run around.

You can also load the bike in the train if you are not traveling by the same train. The bike can be collected from the parcel office once you reach there. Or someone can collect it for you if they have the railway receipt and railway ticket with them.

Rules and regulation at each station or route in India are different, for example at New Delhi you cannot load the bike unless you have a train ticket for the same train, in that case buy a second class ticket and load the bike. Wait list tickets are valid for loading the bike.

IMP:
Make sure you are present when the bike is loaded in the Coach, there have been instances where bikes have been loaded into wrong trains.

Make sure the "Start" and "End" destinations of the bike and the train are the same. So that there is enough of time load and unload the bike, there have been instances where the bikes have not been loaded and unloaded on enroute stations.

Remove the rear view mirrors before packing and CARRY SPARE BRAKE AND CLUTCH LEVER WITH YOKE WHEN YOU GO TO COLLECT YOUR BIKE, SOMETIMES BRAKE/CLUTCH LEVERS AND YOKE BREAK DURING THE JOURNEY, THANKS TO THE LOADING PROCEDURE OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.


HAPPY TRAILS
Gaurav

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