(Anjali Shreya, Intern Journalist): Indian Railways, Modern Railway Stations: The Narendra Modi government of the center is now planning to equip railway stations with world class facilities. For this, there is a preparation to hand over the stations to private companies. Passengers will be provided better facilities at these stations and they will not have to pay much money for that. Indian Railways will not charge passengers much like the airport for world class public facilities at modern railway stations. Rather, these charges (Railway Passenger User Charges) will be market based. This information has been given by a senior officer of Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC).
According to the official, the charges of world-class facilities at modern railway stations will be market-based. However, in February 2020, the Railways had said that the companies redesigning these stations would charge the passengers for the stations like the airport, which would be included in the train ticket. Railways had said that this charge would depend on the number of passengers coming to the stations. But now SK Lohia, the Managing Director and CEO of IRSDC, made it clear that expenses can go up and can also be reduced. Therefore, the charge cannot be fixed.
He said that if you are giving a station to a company for 60 years, then the charges should be in line with the realities of the market. If inflation is low tomorrow, the charges can also come down. He said, there has been an agreement on the user’s charge and the process of notifying it by the Ministry is going on.
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