Motor vehicles driving into the Egmore railway station will soon have to buy platform tickets. The Southern Railway proposes to charge 50 paise for cars, taxis and autorickshaws, and Rs. 5 for buses. This is apart from the platform tickets that the occupants of the vehicles have to purchase, if they do not hold journey tickets. SRVS lorries and vehicles belonging to newspaper concerns and Government (both Central and State) will, however, be exempted from the levy. A Railway official said Howrah was the only other station in the country where the facility of driving into platforms was available, one Rupee being charged. Besides fetching some income, the new levy will relieve, to some extent, traffic congestion on the platforms, which had increased enormously in recent years. A drive-in counter has been put up to enable the motorists to get their tickets without having to stir from their seats.
