By IANS
New Delhi : In a bid to encourage the usage of e-tickets among passengers, Indian Railways has decided to reduce e-ticket service charges effective July 1.
The existing service charge of Rs.15 on each e-ticket issued for sleeper class has been reduced to Rs.10. For air-conditioned classes, the service charge of Rs.25 per ticket has been brought down to Rs.20, the railway ministry announced Wednesday.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC), the nodal body for the purpose, has been authorised to expand e-ticketing facility to outside agencies like Rail Travellers Service Agents (RTSA), Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Indian Association of Tour Agents (IATA) members, petrol pumps, ATMs and electronic points of sale (e-pos). These reduced charges are now effective at the e-seva counters of all these outlets.
There are more than 8,000 agents for booking e-tickets, including RTSAs, RTAs, GSAs, members of IATA and TAAI, petrol pumps of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), district magistrates and deputy commissioners of state governments, e-seva centres of the Andhra Pradesh government and e-pos through ICICI.
In addition arrangements are also being made for issuing e-tickets through ATMs at various railway stations.
In the near future, the railways will also extend the facility of issuing railway tickets from post offices, for which the modalities have already been finalised and an agreement is likely to be signed shortly, said a railways spokesman.
But apart from these minimum service charges, other additional charges on each ticket like super fast surcharge will continue to be imposed as in the past, the railways added.