Indian Railways has announced a price hike for platform tickets on its network.
The new railway notification indicated that the price of the platform ticket had been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 30.
Along with this, the local fare has also been increased by the railways – Rs 30 from Rs 10. Example, if we have to travel from Delhi to Ghaziabad, we will have to pay Rs 30 instead of Rs 10.
A railway passenger with the platform ticket after the fare hike.
This follows the rise in fares for short-distance passenger train tickets in February. The railways said at the time that the “slightly high tariffs” served only to discourage unnecessary travel.
Since the lockdown triggered by the coronavirus was eased, the railways have only run special trains. It started with long distance trains and now even short distance passenger trains operate as special trains.
As a special provision in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the prices of these trains were set at par with the price of mail tickets and express trains not reserved for the same distance, a statement from the Ministry of Railroads.
Previously, the railways announced a price hike excluding commuter trains, effective January 1 of this year. While the commuter fares remain unchanged, the regular non-air-conditioned and non-suburban fares have been increased by 1 paise per km of journey.
The railways then announced a two paise / km increase in non-AC mail / express train fares and a four paise / km increase in AC class fares.
The fare increase is also applicable to premium trains such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto, depending on the order.
The last such increase was announced in 2014-2015 when fares for all classes of trains were increased by 14.2% and freight charges by 6.5%. However, since then the railways have introduced the flexible fare system which has significantly increased the fares of some trains and launched trains like Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express, which have relatively higher fares. Trains with dynamic prices like Suvidha Express have also been introduced.
The railways, in a statement, said at the time that the revenues generated by the “marginal” increase in tariffs would be used for the modernization of the network.
Indian Railways has constantly strived to increase the passenger experience through modernization of coaches and the provision of improved facilities above stations. In addition, the burden of the 7th Compensation Commission on Indian Railway required a rationalization of tariffs.
“In order to expand passenger facilities and facilities at various stations and trains, it has become imperative to increase the fare marginally without overloading passenger classes.
(With entries from Sushant)
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