Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Sep 21: Journey by trains, which used to be the only affordable option for travel for the common people, will soon become dearer. It is learnt that the Railway Board proposes to collect user fee in case of trains the starting point and destinations of which happen to be railway stations having high density of passengers. The user fee concept was so far prevalent only in case of air travel for use of airports.

The Railway Board has decided to levy user fee only in respect of stations where arrival and departure of railway passengers is high. Out of about 7,000 railway stations in the country, around 10 to 15 percent have higher passenger presence. Roughly a thousand stations are in high use. In the case of railway passengers leaving or arriving at the stations buy tickets, user fee is levied. In Karnataka, several stations like Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubballi will be grouped as high traffic stations and hence user fee will be loaded.

The user fee so collected will be set aside separately for being used for the development of respective stations. The fund so created will mostly be used to improve basic infrastructure for the convenience of passengers, it is learnt.