South Eastern Railway (SER) on Wednesday decided to increase the price of platform tickets as a temporary measure to discourage overcrowding at important stations to check the spread of coronavirus.

The platform tickets will now cost between Rs 20 and Rs 50 depending on the category of station.

The new rates will be effective from Thursday.

A platform ticket worth Rs 10 will now cost Rs 30 in Ranchi and Hatia stations under Ranchi division of SER.

The revised rate (Rs 30) will also apply to Rourkela and Jharsuguda stations under SER’s Chakradharpur railway division and Bokaro Steel City under Adra division.

Passengers with faces covered at Tatanagar station on Wednesday. (Bhola Prasad)

All these stations come under the non-suburban grade-III category.

At Tatanagar, the only station in Jharkhand that comes under non-suburban grade-II category, the platform tickets will be available at Rs 40 against the current rate of Rs 10.

Passengers will also have to pay the same rate at Kharagpur.

The cost of platform tickets at Chakradharpur station (under Chakradharpur division) and Ghatshila station (under Kharagpur division), both of which falls in the non-suburban grade-IV category, have been increased to Rs 20 from Rs 10.

Chief public relations officer of SER, Sanjay Ghosh, confirmed the revised rates.

“The new rates will come into effect from tomorrow (Thursday). It is a temporary measure taken to avoid overcrowding at stations in view of the coronavirus pandemic.”

He said the price of platform tickets at all other stations under the SER jurisdiction in Jharkhand would remain unchanged.

According to him, the biggest hike will be implemented at Howrah (new complex) where platform tickets will cost Rs 50 from Thursday. The new complex of Howrah falls under the non-suburban grade-I category.

The railway stations have been categorised on the basis of earnings and passenger footfall.

The Chhotanagpur Passenger Association welcomed the development.

“The railways’ move to increase the cost of platform tickets will help to regulate the crowd at stations and play a crucial role in checking the spread of the killer virus,” said Arun Tiwari, general secretary of the association.