Railway journey in India is supposed to be the most economical mode of transportation compared to any other available options and that is the reason behind not getting the reservations on time. Getting the booking of the railway is a lottery in India. People make their travel plans well in advance after confirming their tickets of a rail journey. According to the available information, this railway journey will be getting more costly from today 15th November 2015.
According to the notification issued by the authorities of Indian railways, due to the extra burden of the service tax which is 14% and Swachh Bharat cess of 0.5% which will become effective from today and that will lead to increase the overall fare of the railway. The good news is, the fare hike will be applicable only on the upper-class travelers while lower class travelers may not need to worry at the moment.
The railway notification specifies that the railway fare will go up by 4.35% for the first class and all AC classes from November 15; this might burden a bit with the government notification to add the Swachh Bharat cess on all taxable service which came into the force from November 6. “Service tax of 14 per cent and Swachh Bharat cess of 0.5 per cent are chargeable on 30 per cent total passenger fare equivalent on 30 per cent of total passenger fare equivalent to 4.35 per cent of the total fare on first class and all AC fares,” the circular said.
However, the service tax will not be applicable to the tickets which are issued prior to 15th November 2015. The taxes will also not be applicable to general and sleeper class travel. With the fare hike comes into force the tickets of AC-I from Delhi to Mumbai will go up by Rs. 206 while the rise in AC-III fares from Delhi to Howrah will be Rs. 102, Delhi-Chennai route will have the increase of Rs. 140 for the AC-II segment.
The government is estimated the revenue earnings of Rs. 1000 crore per year through this new tax hike plans while the annual earnings of the railways through passenger segment alone is Rs. 35,000 crore said the sources.
Although the rates of the tickets have gone up, but the reservation will still remain the challenge and travelling by rail will still be a difficult task unless you plan your travel plans well in advance, at least 6 months.
Source: PTI
Edited by Goa Prism News Desk
