Train Tickets Will Become Costly: Pay Extra Money For Using These Railway Stations!

There is no free lunch, the age-old saying goes. For every service or product you consume, you need to pay the equivalent price. As the Government is trying to redevelop many Train Stations across the country, it is in need of funds. And the weight of this redevelopment is being transferred to the shoulders of fellow travelers. Soon, Station Development Fee (SDF) will become an additional component of your Railway Ticket.

Train Tickets to become costly

According to recent development, the Railway Board has approved the Station Development Fee (SDF) or user fee ranging between Rs 10 and Rs 50 for boarding trains from stations that have been redeveloped or will be redeveloped in the near future. It should be noted that similar charges will also be levied for de-boarding the trains at similar stations that have been revamped or will be revamped.

As it is done in the case of booking flight tickets, this fee will be automatically added to the fare while booking tickets. The user fee would differ based on the type of ticket you are purchasing, higher for all AC Classes (Rs 50), less for Sleeper Class (Rs 25), and a minimum of Rs 10 for unreserved class. There will be no such fee for suburban rail journeys. The platform tickets at these stations will also be costlier by Rs 10.

The date of implementation is not yet fixed

The Station Development units of Zonal Railways will intimate the commercial units for stations developed or redeveloped with a specific date from which the SDF charges will be collected and this must be done 120 days in advance.

This will be an assured source of revenue and incentive for the private players who will develop these stations and the ministry hopes this will encourage more private players to bid for these projects. In the case of public-funded projects, the additional fee will add to the revenue of the Indian Railway.

To give an example of an increased fee and how it affects you, take the following example. If a passenger books a ticket from New Delhi to Mumbai, then the ticket price would include the user fee of both stations. However, if a passenger books a ticket from a smaller station to New Delhi or Mumbai, then the user fee would be 50% of the normal charge.