Railway platform ticket in some Mumbai stations raised from ₹10 to ₹50 to avoid crowding

The Central Railway has issued a heavy increase in the price of platform tickets at some key stations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to avoid over-crowding during the upcoming summer season in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

A platform ticket now costs Rs 50 instead of the previous rate of Rs 10 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, and neighbouring Thane, Kalyan, Panvel and Bhiwandi Road stations, news agency PTI quoted CR's Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar as saying.

Netizens have posted photos of the new ticket prices:

'Decision taken to prevent overcrowding'

He said that the new rate came into force from March 1 and will remain effective till June 15 this year. "The decision was taken to prevent over-crowding at these stations during the summer travel rush," he said. Since the second week of February, there has been a surge in daily COVID-19 cases in Mumbai.

Last week, after concerns were raised over a rise in the ticket fares of short-distance passenger trains, the Railways said the "slightly high fares" are only to discourage unnecessary travel. 

Since the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown was eased, the Railways is running only special trains. It started with long-distance trains and now, even short-distance passenger trains are being run as special trains. As a special provision in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fares of these trains have been fixed at par with the price of unreserved tickets of mail and express trains for the same distance, a statement from the Railway Ministry said.

The railways, which has now started operating passenger or local train services, has come under fire from daily commuters, who are feeling the pinch of the rise in the fares. For example, a ticket from Amritsar to Pathankot costs Rs 55 now. Earlier, it was priced at Rs 25. Similarly, a ticket of a passenger DMU between the Jalandhar City railway station and Ferozpur costs Rs 60 now, while it used to cost Rs 30 earlier, PTI reported.

READ | In Hathras, father of girl molested 2 yrs ago killed by accused; 2 arrested & NSA invoked

READ | Jammu Congress burns Ghulam Nabi Azad's effigy in pitched protest; wants 'G23' expelled

Mumbai sees 855 new COVID-19 cases

Mumbai on Monday recorded 855 COVID-19 cases and four deaths, taking the tally to 3,26,770 and the toll to 11,474, while 876 people recovered during the day, an official said.

So far, 3,04,736 people, or about 93% of the caseload, have been discharged, leaving the country's financial capital with 9,690 active cases, he added. The daily growth rate of cases increased to 0.28% from 0.17% on February 17, while the case doubling time shortened from 417 days to 244, BMC data revealed. With 16,491 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the overall number of tests in Mumbai went up to 32,91,721, an official said.

READ | China rages as US report accuses it of cyber attack on India's power grid; mum on RedEcho

READ | AAP turns against Prashant Kishor? Kejriwal's MLAs question cabinet-rank post in Punjab