Rly to charge ‘user fee’ at busy stations, tickets may cost more

 Rly to charge ‘user fee’ at busy stations, tickets may cost more

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:18.09.2020

The Indian Railways will soon start levying a “token user fee” from passengers taking trains from busy stations, which will result in marginal increase in the total fare. The user fee, which will be collected for redevelopment of railway stations and modernsation of station infrastructure, will be included in the ticket as it is done in the case of air travel.

“We are going to keep a very small amount for the user charge. We will issue a notification for the user charge for stations including where existing ones are being redeveloped and also those which are not being redeveloped. When the redevelopment of the stations gets completed the user fee will go to the concessionaires and till then the collected user fee will be utilised by railways for providing better facilities to passengers across stations,” railway board CEO and chairman V K Yadav said.

He added the charge will be affordable and won’t pinch the passengers. Yadav said it was important as the Indian Railways is focusing on providing world class facilities.

Responding to a specific question whether this fee will be collected at all railway stations, Yadav said there are about 7,000 stations on the Indian Railways network and the user fee will be levied at barely 10-15% of the stations where the footfall is projected to increase in the next five years. Going by that calculation, the number of such potential stations would be between 700 and 1,000.

Earlier, railway officials had told reporters at several press meets that the user fee would be charged only at developed stations.

A ministry spokesperson said, “The value of the benefits will outweigh the minimalistic user fee when paid.” He added this will be done in a phased manner and bringing 10-15% stations under this scheme is the final possibility.

In a written reply, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal had told Lok Sabha on Wednesday, “A Group of Secretaries (GoS) was constituted for redevelopment and modernisation of railway stations to provide better safety, passenger amenities and services. The GoS interalia suggested the levy of a nominal user fee for redevelopment of stations, which is presently under consideration.”

Full report on www.toi.in

Concessions to senior citizens suspended to stop unnecessary rail travel, HC told

The Southern railway has informed the Madras high court that ticket fare concession to senior citizens was suspended to discourage unnecessary travel in view of the pandemic. It further submitted that between 2016 and 2019, it had incurred Rs 5,475 crore revenue loss providing concessions. “The element of concession extended was varying from 10% to 100% depending upon the category. However, in view of Covid-19, a lot of train services were cancelled ... and it was decided to grant concessions only for four categories – disabled passengers, 11 categories of patients and students,” said counsel for the railways PT Ramkumar. TNN