The Northern Railway arm of the Indian Railways has reduced the platform ticket prices that had been raised to Rs 50 due to Diwali and Chhath Puja on Thursday. Platform tickets will once again be available for Rs 10. The rates have been reduced for 14 railway stations in the Northern Railways zone, namely Lucknow, Varanasi, Barabanki, Ayodhya Cantt, Ayodhya Junction, Akbarpur, Shahganj, Jaunpur, Sultanpur Junction, Rae Bareli, Janghai, Bhadohi, Pratapgarh, and Unnao Junction now have cheaper tickets.
“The rates of platform tickets in a total of 14 Railway Stations have been reduced to Rs 10. The prices were increased to Rs 50 because of Diwali and Chhath Puja, which has now been reduced,” said Rekha Sharma, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM) of Northern Railways.
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“Tickets became cheaper at Lucknow, Varanasi, Barabanki, Ayodhya Cantt, Ayodhya Junction, Akbarpur, Shahganj, Jaunpur, Sultanpur Junction, Rae Bareli, Janghai, Bhadohi, Pratapgarh and Unnao Junction,” Sharma added. Mea, Southern Railways has also increased the price of platform tickets at several stations, including Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, to control overcrowding.
Southern Railways had hiked the platform ticket prices at eight major railway stations in Chennai and the suburbs. The ticket price was increased from Rs 10 to Rs 20 on October 1 and will remain effective till January 31, 2023.
The railway stations for which platform ticket rates were increased include Dr. MGR Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Tambaram, and Katpadi stations. The ticket prices were also increased for stations like Chengalpattu, Arakkonam, Tiruvallur, and Avadi.
Besides these stations, the prices of platform tickets were also increased at Vijayawada station in Andhra Pradesh. Central Railway has also increased the platform ticket price at many railway stations across Mumbai. In an official release, Central Railway said that this step was undertaken to tackle the overcrowding problem at stations during the Dussehra festival.
(With inputs from ANI)