Mumbai: Central Railway hikes platform ticket fare to Rs 50

Long-distance passengers at the waiting area of CSMT. File pics

If you plan to see off a family member taking a long-distance train from CSMT, LTT or Kalyan, don't take the whole jingbang. For, you will end up coughing a lot of money on platform tickets. Starting Monday, each platform ticket on Central Railway will cost Rs 50. The move is mostly to check crowding at the stations and reduce chain pulling.

"It has been decided to increase the price of platform tickets as a temporary measure at CSMT, Dadar, LTT, Thane, Kalyan and Panvel stations from May 9 to May 23," Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

CR has appealed to passengers to report before 30 mins departure to avoid last-minute hassles

"It is mostly those who come to drop off passengers and remain on the train after it starts pulling out of the station who are offenders of alarm chain pulling," said Sutar.

As per the official, 332 cases of alarm chain pulling were reported in the Mumbai division in April. "Of these, 53 cases have been registered as justified due to valid reasons, whereas 279 cases have been registered as unreasonable. A total of 188 offenders have been prosecuted under section 141 of the Indian Railway Act for pulling of alarm chain without sufficient or valid reason and an amount of Rs 94,000 has been realised as penalty," Sutar said.

"Of late, it is seen that passengers are resorting to chain pulling for frivolous reasons like arriving late, alighting/boarding at intermediate stations, etc," said the chief PRO. In most cases, offenders are caught due to alert RPF personnel, ticket-checkers and passengers.

"The chain, when pulled without sufficient reason or emergency, not only affects the running of the train but also has a cascading effect on trains behind it," he added.

Sutar said railways has also appealed to passengers to reach the stations at least 30 minutes before departure. Passengers may also use battery-operated cars and wheelchairs on the premises for the movement of senior citizens and differently abled people to reach the desired coach, said Sutar.