All zones under the Indian Railways have been advised to hike the platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 50 in a bid to discourage gathering of large crowds in view of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official of railways said on Tuesday.
This came after Railway Minister Piyush Goyal held a high-level meeting to discuss the steps taken by the national transporter to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"In order to regulate unnecessary crowding at stations, as a temporary measure, all Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) are requested to raise platform ticket prices to Rs 50 at important stations (dealing large passengers/visitors rush). It is only a temporary increase. Prices can be restored when the situation permits," a senior official said.
While the Western Railway and Central Railway were first to announce the hike, most of the other railway zones followed suit.
The maximum rate of Rs 50 would be applicable at big stations, with graded hikes at relatively smaller ones, officials said.
"COVID-19 preventive measures. Central Railway (headquartered in Mumbai) on its Mumbai, Pune, Bhusaval, and Solapur divisions increased the platform ticket from Rs 10 to Rs 50 till further advice," the Central Railway said on Twitter.
The authorities of the Western Railway (headquartered in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh) also informed that they have hiked platform ticket rates up to Rs 50 and the highest rate will be applicable at big stations such as Mumbai Central.
Platform tickets at stations under South Central Railway (headquartered in Secunderabad) have been set at Rs 50 for all non-suburban or NSG (1 to 4 stations) and suburban stations. Both these categories have 84 stations.
The Southern Railway zone (headquartered in Chennai) also said that they have hiked to Rs 50 in Dr MGR Central, Chennai, as well as at Egmore and Tambaram stations.
Similarly, South Western Railway (headquartered in Hubballi, Karnataka) said that the price of platform tickets in KSR (Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna) Bengaluru, Bengaluru Cantonment, Yesvantpur, Yelahanka and Krishnarajapuram Railway Stations has been hiked to Rs 50 till March 31.
For NSG 5 and 6 stations, the price is being increased to Rs 20. This category has 499 stations.
The stations have been clubbed into three groups: Non-suburban (NSG), Suburban (SG) and Halt (HG). NSG 1 stations usually record the highest footfall and revenue with NSG 6 stations recording minimum footfall.
Other measures by the Railway
During the meeting, Goyal also formed a response team comprising executive directors from the Railway Board — consisting of ED (Executive Director) passenger marketing, ED health planning and ED environment management among others — to deal with COVID-19.
This team will coordinate all COVID-19 preparedness activities, monitor progress through an online dashboard and other forums, resolve issues of railway zones/PUs, issue advisories and media briefs and prepare positions for review meetings at various forums.
One nodal officer from each zone will serve as the point of contact for all COVID-19 preparedness measures and will be in constant touch with the COVID Response team of the Railway Board.
The online monitoring system has been created to do real-time monitoring of the efforts across the country.
(With PTI inputs)