The railways on Friday said the decision to increase the platform ticket price at certain stations was a “temporary” measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 due to crowding.
The clarification comes after the ticket price at some stations was increased to ₹50, from ₹10. Last year too, various railway zones hiked the price in an attempt to regulate crowds.
“Hike in price of platform tickets is a temporary measure and is a field activity undertaken by railway administration in the interest of safety of passengers and to prevent overcrowding at stations,” the railways said. It was being done at a limited number of stations which saw heavy rush. For example, this was being done only at seven stations in the Mumbai division out of total 78 stations.
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This measure had been in practice for many years and was implemented as a short-term crowd control measure. “There is nothing new about it.” The railways stressed that considering the upsurge in COVID-19 cases in a few States, they were discouraging people from unnecessary crowding at platforms and the exercise was in public interest only.
“During festivals like Chathh, Diwali or melas etc., as well in different zones, it is often temporarily increased and later on rolled back,” the railways noted.
It explained that the regulation and control of crowds at stations was the responsibility of Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) and powers were delegated to them via a 2015 order to raise the platform ticket price to regulate rush.
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The railways recently also announced “slightly higher fares” for short distance trains to discourage people from avoidable travels as a “proactive measure” to prevent crowding in trains. Short distance passenger trains constituted about 3% of the total trains running presently.