Question : Service Charge on Tickets

(a) the details of service charges/surcharge levied on booking of each railway ticket online through Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC);

(b) whether the IRCTC has decided to scrap service charges on a short term basis and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has suggested to IRCTC either to do away or substantially reduce the service charges so as to remove difference between online transactions and counter payment;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the response of the IRCTC in this regard; and

(e) the further steps taken/being taken by the Government to promote cash less transactions in Railways?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4485 BY KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN AND SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 14.12.2016 REGARDING SERVICE CHARGE ON TICKETS

(a) to (d): Service charge of `20/- per e-ticket issued for Sleeper & Reserved Second Class (2S) and `40/- per e-ticket in all other classes is charged. For i-tickets, the service charge collected is `80/- per i-ticket issued for Sleeper & Reserved Second Class (2S) and `120/- per i-ticket in all other classes. Service tax as applicable is also charged over the service charge. In order to help passengers and incentivise the payment through cashless means i.e. credit/debit/cash cards, service charge is not being collected for booking of online tickets on the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website from 23.11.2016 to 31.12.2016.

(e): In order to further promote cashless transactions in ticket booking in Railways, following initiatives have been undertaken:-
i. In case of online ticket booking through IRCTC website, payment is made through various modes of electronic banking, viz. net banking, through credit/debit cards, cash cards and e-wallets.
ii. In case of reserved ticket booked across the Computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters also, the facility of payment through credit/debit cards is available to the passengers and the service charge levied earlier has been withdrawn.
iii. Booking of unreserved tickets through mobile phone including journey, season and platform tickets has also been introduced on pilot basis on some stations of Central, Western, Southern, Eastern, South Central, South Eastern and Northern Railways where payment is made through Railway Wallet (R-Wallet) which is linked to passenger’s mobile number.
iv. Facility of renewal of season tickets through IRCTC website has been provided for suburban train services on Western and Central Railways where the payment is made through electronic mode.
v. Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) have been introduced to facilitate sale of unreserved tickets, platform tickets and renewal of season tickets which have provision of payment through Smart Cards.
vi. Go-India Smart Card scheme has been launched as a pilot project for booking of reserved and unreserved tickets at the counters (specified smart card counters) on the New Delhi- Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah sectors.

However, improvements in the systems including payment systems are on-going process.
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