Now, railway passengers may also have to pay user development fee
NEW DELHI: Railway passengers may have to pay a user development fee, along the lines of the levy charged by airport operators on travellers, to fund the upgrade of railway stations, if a proposal that is currently being drafted is accepted.
The Railways proposes to charge a fee of as much as ₹10 on air-conditioned and chair car tickets that cost more than ₹500 per trip to give people at railway stations the kind of facilities that are available at airports, two officials said on the condition of anonymity. The proposal will exclude a majority of railway travellers, as a very small percentage of people travel in AC compartments. The fee will help Railways generate funds to upgrade and maintain stations.
“We plan to charge a small amount between ₹5 and ₹10 on AC class and chair car tickets and those which cost above ₹500. As stations are introducing facilities like escalators and beautifying railway stations, we would need money to maintain them,” said a government official, one of the two people cited above.
The official said no decision has been taken yet on the proposal. Queries emailed to the railway ministry remained unanswered till press time.
As part of the government’s $1 trillion station redevelopment programme, the government plans to make stations more attractive and passengerfriendly by building escalators, lifts and shopping complexes.
The proposal comes even as Indian Railways has failed to appoint the Rail Development Authority more than a year after the cabinet cleared it. In April 2017, the Union cabinet had approved the setting up of the authority, a regulator for the railways. The regulator was supposed to perform four primary functions—tariff determination, ensuring fair play and a level playing field for stakeholder investments, setting efficiency and performance standards and dissemination of information.