Please read the part I of this story Sending goods using railway parcel service - Part I - living - Freemindscafe to know how did I do the planning to send out parcels.
So after packing up the parcels, I reached the station on the same day on which in the evening my train was suppose to depart. I reached at the station at 3:00 PM, My train departs at 8:30 PM. Since I had made one previous visit to inquire about everything, I already knew how can I take my car to the parking place from where my parcels can be unloaded.
I parked my car and walked up to the place where actual weighing happens. No one was there to weigh the parcels. I looked around and saw a fellow sitting there (later I find out that his name was Ramesh). I asked him that I need to send parcels. He said it will be done and asked me where are the parcels. I figured out that he is an agent. He took me to his manager I guess. His name was Baijnath.
I asked Baignath that I need to send 3 cartons. He told me that he will charge 200 rupees per carton as the charges to get the paper work done. These charges will be over and above what the railway will charge for the actual freight. I handed over him 800 Rupees, 600 Rupees for his charges and 200 Rupees for freight charges. That’s it after that they assured me that they will take care of every thing and will load the parcels in the train. Yes one more thing you will have to carry the print out of your confirmed ticket. Because against that ticket the parcel will be booked and on that ticket ‘luggage booked’ will be mentioned. You will have to use the same ticket at the destination station to get the parcels back. So once I handed over him the ticket and money I came back.
In the evening I reached the station to catch my train. As soon as I entered the apartment Ramesh was waiting for me there. He told me that the parcels have been loaded in the train and he handed over me the ticket and the bilti for the parcels. It is important to keep these two documents safe as they will be needed to get the parcels back. Don’t hand over the ticket to ticket checked at the destination station. Tell him that you need to collect the parcels.
Imortant Tips
- Keep the carton size under 90cm x 90cm x 90cm. More than this size will increase the freight charges many times
- Try to keep the weight under 85 kgs. Even if the weight is 1 Kg. Agents and the railway will charge the same rate. So there is not much benefit in sending the light items via railways.