Rail Travel Likely To Get Costlier, SDF To Be Levied At Redeveloped Stations

The Railways is reportedly planning to levy a station development fee for passengers boarding or getting off at redeveloped stations. The fee will reportedly range between ₹10 to ₹50 depending on the passenger's traveling class.

The fee will likely be added to the train tickets during booking, officials said. The fee will be applicable after these stations are operational, in a move that is set to cost passengers more for rail travel.

According to a circular issued by the Railway Board, the fee will be in three categories. ₹50 will be charged for all AC classes, ₹25 for sleeper class, and ₹10 for the unreserved class, while no station development fee will be charged for suburban train journeys.

Notably, platform tickets are also set to be costlier by ₹10, the circular informed.

It further read, "Class-wise SDF for developed/redeveloped stations shall be charged as under: For alighting passengers at such stations, the SDF shall be 50 percent of the rates indicated above. If both boarding/alighting such stations, in that case, SDF shall be 1.5 times of the applicable rate".

SDF shall be the same across all redeveloped stations and shall be charged as a separate component plus applicable GST, for which instructions shall be issued separately, it added.

Meanwhile, various stations are being redeveloped under the Indian Railways to provide modern facilities to commuters,

Officials further said that the SDF would ensure continuous revenue generation and will also make the model financially viable for Indian Railways.

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