User charges to be levied at redeveloped stations will be minimal, says Rail Board Chief

NEW DELHI: User charges will be levied for those boarding trains from redeveloped railway stations, much like the user development fee charged at airports, but these will be "minimal" and not burden the common man, Chairman, Railway Board VK Yadav has said.
The Indian Railways will consider the capacity of domestic companies while increasing the localisation content requirement for procurement of 44 rakes of Vande Bharat trains, Yadav told ET in an exclusive interview.

The railways will utilise its entire Rs 1.6 lakh crore capital plan, he said.

The railways is seeking bids for redevelopment of some of the biggest stations including the New Delhi Railway Station and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai. The New Delhi station redevelopment is expected to cost Rs 6,500 crore and take four years. The railways may levy a small user fee to provide quality service at these stations.


"I can just tell you that this amount will be very, very small, and you can say that this is something like crowdfunding," Yadav said, adding that the common man will not be burdened. "But that amount will be very useful for the Indian Railways to provide more and more facilities to our passengers."

He said the railways is reworking on the procurement tender for the 44 Vande Bharat train sets.

"Right now, as per the Make in India policy, the minimum content is 50%... we are examining how we can increase it further," Yadav said.