Indian Railways' passenger who travel in an air-conditioned (AC) compartment and chair car may have to pay a user development fee for the upgrading of railway stations, if the proposal on the same gets approved.
Indian Railways' passengers who travel in chair car and air-conditioned (AC) compartments may have to pay a user development fee for the upgrade of railway stations if a proposal to the effect gets approved.
The aim is to collect funds to make railway station facilities similar to that at airports, reported
“We plan to charge a small amount between Rs 5 and Rs 10 on AC class and chair car tickets and those which cost above Rs 500. As stations are introducing facilities like escalators and beautifying railway stations, we would need money to maintain them,” a government official told the paper on a condition of anonymity.
The proposal is in line with the government's station redevelopment programme worth $1 trillion to make stations more passenger-friendly by providing facilities such as escalators, lifts and shopping complexes.
Last year, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for redevelopment of 400 railway stations on 'as is where is' basis to accelerate the process of revamping them. This target was later increased to 600.
The station redevelopment programme, however, has come to a halt as the Indian Railways is yet to appoint a Rail Development Authority.
“Revision of railway tariffs is not possible till the authority comes into place. Amid this crisis, the introduction of user development fees is a viable option,” said a railway official, the second person cited above.
The regulator was supposed to determine tariff, ensure fair play and a level playing field for stakeholder investments, set efficiency and performance standards and disseminate information.
While one of the promises of the NDA government before coming to power was to develop 400 stations, the scheme was launched in February 2017. The government had hoped for this project to be India’s largest public-private partnership, but it garnered a mellow response from the corporates.
In the 2018-19 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the railway ministry was allocated Rs 148,528 crores as total capital and development expenditure for this financial year to replace existing tracks as well as build new ones.