The number of left-behind luggage (forgotten) of passengers on the train as well as the railway station is drastically increased in the current year in the Mumbai divisions of Central and Western railways. To date, left behind belongings of 1,732 passengers were retrieved by the RPF of Central and Western railways Mumbai divisions only. These belongings worth around 4.1 crores were later returned to the rightful owners after verification. Nearly 90 per cent of cases are of suburban passengers who forget things in the rush to board trains.
During the current year, from January to September 2022, under Operation ‘Amanat’, the Centre Railway RPF has retrieved luggage of 1,086 passengers valued at about Rs. 2.78 crores. Out of these 1086 passengers, Rs 1.64 crore worth of luggage of 570 passengers was retrieved on the Mumbai Division of Central Railway alone.
Similarly, during the current year from January to September 2022, the western Railway RPF has retrieved the luggage of 1,967 passengers valued at about Rs. 3.86 crores. Out of these 1,967 passengers, Rs 2.37 crore worth of luggage of 1,162 passengers was retrieved on Mumbai Central Division of Western Railway alone. These luggage retrieval cases include the articles like bags, Mobile Phones, Purse, laptops and other valuable articles.
In 2021 total of 840 belongings of passengers, valued at 1.82 crores were retrieved by WRs Mumbai Central division RPF. Similarly, 283 passengers' belongings valued at Rs one crore were retrieved by Central railway Mumbai divisions RPF in 2021.
Asked about comparatively more cases of passenger belongings in suburban sections, a senior official of the CR, said, “Work pressure, tearing hurry and talking on mobile phones are some of the reasons why people leave their luggage behind.”
When asked about the long-distance passengers, the official said, "The number left behind belongings in long-distance trains is very few as compared to the local trains. It happens basically when they reach the station at the last moment (train is about to depart) then the chance of misplacing the luggage is very high".
