No service charge on IRCTC, Railway tickets to get cheaper

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, at the presentation of the Union Budget announced many incentives for the Indian railways, which included withdrawal of service charge on e-tickets.

“Railways will offer competitive ticket booking facility to the public at large. Service charges on e-tickets booked through IRCTC will be withdrawn,” Jaitley said.

No Service Charge On Tickets Booked Through IRCTC, Says Arun Jaitley#GenNextBudget pic.twitter.com/5scMfCe7cQ

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Currently Rs 40 on every ticket booked in air-conditioned classes and a service charge of Rs 20 on every ticket booked in sleeper class is levied by the IRCTC when tickets are booked via its website.

Further lauding the demonetisation move by the government, Jaitley said, “Cashless reservations have gone up from 58% to 68%.”

Post demonetisation the government had waived off service charge on e-ticketing for railways passengers.

Jaitley added that the shares of Railway Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in stock exchanges.

The Union Budget for the year 2017-18 was the first to combine the railway budget with the general budget.

For 2017- 18, the total capital and development expenditure for railways has been pegged at Rs 1.31 lakh crore which includes Rs 55, 000 crore provided by the budgeted government.

The railway budget was focused on passenger safety, capital and development works, cleanliness and lastly financial and accounting reforms.