CHENNAI: Faced with funds crunch, the railways has restored the service charge for booking e-tickets. About 75 per cent of service charge which was collected until November 2016 is to be charged as convenience fee per ticket.
The move is expected to fetch over Rs 1,000 crore revenue annually given that over 65 per cent of train tickets are now booked online. For 2016-17, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), earned Rs 416 crore revenue through service charge, as per its annual report.
Effective from September 1, convenience fee of Rs 15 will be charged for e-tickets of non-AC classes and Rs 30 for AC classes, an order issued on Saturday by IRCTC, which is the sole controller of the passenger reservation system (PRS), said. In addition, GST will be charged for convenience fee collected for both AC and non-AC classes. Maximum four passengers can be reserved per ticket.
The order comes a few days after the railway ministry asked the railway board to let competent authority to decide on restoring the service charge, citing revenue loss. Following this, IRCTC restored the 75 per cent of service charge for e-tickets.
Three years ago, railways withdrew service charge for online tickets aiming to promote cashless payment for train ticket bookings. Then, Rs 20 was collected as service charge for non-AC classes and Rs 40 charged for AC classes.
As of March 2019, 54.66 crore seats/berths are available for booking a day. Of this, 36.48 crore berths are in non-AC classes comprising sleeper berth and second seater, while the rest of berths are AC classes. Presently, railways collects a reservation fee of Rs 20 for non-AC classes and Rs 40 for AC classes.
54.66 crore seats a day
As of March 2019, 54.66 crore seats or berths are available for booking in trains a day. Of this, 36.48 crore berths are in non-AC classes comprising sleeper berth and second seater, while the rest of berths are AC classes. Presently, the railways collects a reservation fee of Rs 20 for non-AC classes and Rs 40 for AC classes
Rs 15 for non-AC classes
Effective from September 1, 2019, a convenience fee of Rs 15 will be charged from passengers for e-tickets of non-AC classes and Rs 30 for AC classes, an order issued on Saturday by IRCTC, which is the sole controller of passenger reservation system, said