Railway platform ticket prices hiked to curb traffic during the festive season

Central Railways has increased the platform ticket price at certain railway stations across Mumbai to curb the excessive traffic in view of the Dasara festival rush.

In a release on Thursday, railway officials said that in anticipation of a huge crowd of travellers as well as accompanying non-travellers at Vijayawada Railway Station, the platform ticket price would be increased to ₹30 from 12 a.m. on September 30 to October 9. The rate has gone up at the Dadar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai and Thane, Kalyan, Panvel stations of the Mumbai division.

The price hike is to regulate the flow of public entering the platforms, the release said.

“The platform ticket fare hike is a temporary measure,” said The Union Railway Ministry, in a statement. The move has been taken to prevent overcrowding at stations amid COVID-19 pandemic.

"Regulation and controlling of crowd at stations is the responsibility of DRMs. It is a Temporary measure and field activity undertaken by railway administration in the interest of safety of passengers and to prevent overcrowding at stations," the Union Railway Ministry said further in the statement.

The Railway Ministry added that the powers to raise platform ticket prices to prevent crowding at stations had been delegated to Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) since 2015 and is used occasionally as a "short-term crowd control measure".

Earlier, during a sharp spike of COVID-19 cases in India during March, the Indian Railways had spiked the platform ticket prices as a temporary resort to control the spread of the Covid-19 disease.