The Indian Railways on Friday announced a fare hike for platform ticket across its network in a bid to prevent unnecessary overcrowding at stations amid the ongoing pandemic.

A fresh notification by the railways stated that the platform ticket price has been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 30.

Along with this, the local fare has also been increased by the railways.

The Ministry of Railways in a statement termed the hike as a 'temporary measure' taken keeping the safety of passengers in mind.

"It is a temporary measure and field activity undertaken by the railway administration in the interest of the safety of passengers and to prevent overcrowding at stations," the Ministry said in a statement.

"Deterring more persons to visit the station, the platform ticket charges are increased from time to time after assessing the ground situation. The power to change charges of platform tickets has been delegated to DRMs due to field management requirements," it added.

The Ministry said the measure is in practice for many years and is used occasionally as a short-term crowd control measure and "there is nothing new about it."

In February, the Railways had announced the "slight hike" in the ticket fares of short-distance passenger trains to discourage people from unnecessary travel.

Earlier, the railways had announced fare hike excluding suburban trains, effective from January 1 this year. While suburban fares remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares were increased by 1 paise per km of journey.

The railways had then announced a two paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes.