Railway tickets gets costlier; Click here to know more information
Booking tickets has now become much more costlier than before as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism (IRCTC) has restored their service charges and convenience on e-tickets.
The railways will now charge Rs 15 for non-AC and Rs 30 for the AC coaches’ tickets from September 1. Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applicable separately on each ticket.
Meanwhile, for payment made through UPI or BHIM applications, the convenience fee will be lesser – Rs 10 and Rs 20 for non-AC classes and AC classes, respectively. Till the software for UPI/BHIM is developed, payment through UPI/BHIM will be incentivised by offering prizes through a lottery on a regular basis, a report by ANI said.
The railways earlier used to levy Rs 20 for tickets for non air-conditioned coaches and Rs 40 for tickets for air-conditioned coaches as service charges. In November 2016, the service charges were withdrawn after demonetisation to promote digital payments. A railway official told IANS that after the service charges were discontinued, the IRCTC saw a drop of over 26 per cent in Internet ticketing revenue.
The online booking of tickets by rail passengers has grown exponentially and over 70% of the tickets are now being booked online. The growth in this activity has been an impressive 12.5% year on year in recent years.
Inputs from IANS
