Train tickets to become costlier | Fusion - WeRIndia

To improve the facilities at the railway stations, the government proposed to levy User Development Fee (UDF) on passengers for using railway platforms.

The proposal has been on a discussion for a long time. Sources said that the Railway Ministry issued a cabinet note on this matter. They also said that the government, after the discussion with Niti Aayog, issued the note.

Last week, both the Railway Ministry and Niti Aayog held discussions and concluded the implementation of UDF.

After the implementation of the cabinet note, development fees will be collected from railway passengers. The fee will be included in the train ticket, which means, ticket fare will be hiked.

Charges will be different for AC and sleeper class passengers. UDF will be levied on platform tickets also.

However, UDF will not be collected from all passengers. The development fee will be implemented only in those stations that are being renovated or redeveloped. Passengers if travelling from those stations will have to pay the fees.

UDF will be collected from passengers at around 1000 stations which are under proposals of renovation. However, in the initial phase, only 62 stations have been identified for redevelopment. Some of them are New Delhi, Mumbai, Indore, Nagpur, and Chandigarh.

Though the amount of fee has not yet decided, it is expected to be in the range of ₹30 to ₹40 per ticket. The fee also varies with the class in which the passengers travel. While UDF will be the maximum in AC1 tier, it will be least in AC3 tier. UDF will not be collected from general class passengers. Since there is no burden on general class passengers, the government says that UDF will not affect the common public.

The government is in the process of inviting bids from private players for the redevelopment of railway stations.

Image by Captain Hornsby from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/railway-station-platform-train-5604317/