I will be travelling to Haridwar from Chennai later this month. I will be arriving at New Delhi Railway Station early in the morning, but my connecting train to Haridwar is scheduled to depart at 3:20 PM only. I would like to take the opportunity to visit 1-2 famous tourist places in New Delhi - which are closer to the railway station complex. But the problem will be the luggage that I would be carrying. So I was looking for information on the cloak room service at NDLS. Any idea where exactly the cloak room is located at New Delhi Railway Station? Is it open for 24x7? Also how much do they charge per baggage? I have never used cloak room service before, so I just hope that it's safe to keep our belongings in the railway cloak room.
Cloak room is a safe place to keep your luggage. I have used Indian railways cloak room service at a number of railway stations but never faced any safety issues. Just to be on the safer side, do not keep any valuables like jewellery or money in the cloak room, instead carry them with you all the time. NDLS Cloak Room Location: Being a busy railway station, NDLS has two cloak rooms. The first one is located at Platform 1 towards the Paharganj side, while the second cloak room is on the other end of the station at Platform 16 (towards the Ajmeri Gate side). Cloak Room Working Hours: Indian Railways cloak room service is open for 24x7, but there are breaks in-between for food and shift changes. Usually there are three 30 minutes break in a day. 8 AM - 8:30 AM, 2 PM - 2:30 PM and 6 PM - 6:30 PM. Kindly note that the break timings are not fixed across all the stations. It varies from one station to another depending upon the number of available staff and passenger load. Cloak Room Charges: The charges are pretty nominal - Rs 15 for the first 24 hours. If you need lockers, then the charge is Rs 20 for the first 24 hours. Please Note: You must have a valid train reservation from the same station to avail cloak room service. Your luggage must be properly locked while depositing at the cloak room counter. They don't accept luggage without locks. You need to produce a Government-issued ID proof (Driving License, Voter's ID, PAN Card etc) while claiming your luggage from the cloak room. Hope the information helps. Regards, Deb
I had once used the cloak room on Plantform No 1 at NDLS. All was good while depositing the luggage there. I had to fill in a form and show my reservation slip. That's all. But while collecting the luggage back, I had to go through a torrid time. My train was at 2 PM and I thought to collect the luggage after having my lunch. But my mobile was running out of battery and the charger was in the bag which I had deposited at the cloak room. So I went to collect the luggage first. There was a huge queue in front of the clock room. I had no less than 50 people waiting ahead of me either to submit or collect their belongings. In next 1 hour, the line hardly moved forward. I was running out of time and went ahead to request the guy at counter to release my luggage. But he was in no mood to listen. Then after multiple requests, finally he handed it over to me (with a few nice words ). Then I had to rush to the other-end of the New Delhi station (Platform No 12) to board my train. It was one hell of an experience. The reason why I am writing this post is to keep you informed about the chaotic scenario at rush hours. If you are using the cloak room at New Delhi Railway Station, please have at-least 2 hours' time in hand to collect the luggage. You never know what's there in store for you. Later on, I came to know that the other cloak room (on Platform No 16/17) is relatively less crowded. So If I ever have to use cloack room at New Delhi railway station again, then I would go to the other cloak room instead of the one in Platform #1. #JustSaying
Being one of the busiest railway stations in India, the huge rush at the cloak room was more or less expected. Thank God, you finally managed to get hold of your luggage on time. Your story will serve as a lesson to anyone who is looking to use cloack room at New Delhi railway station. Thanks for sharing your experience with other forum members. Regards, Deb
