Cloak room and locker charges hiked by railways

After hiking the passenger fare, railways have decided to raise the cloak room and locker charges, which has not been revised since 2001.

After hiking the passenger fare, railways have decided to raise the cloak room and locker charges, which has not been revised since 2001.

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Passengers have to shell out more for keeping their belongings in the cloak rooms and lockers from February 1 when the new tariff will become effective.

Now a passenger has to pay Rs 20 for keeping his belongings in the locker at rail premise for 24 hours instead of Rs 5 earlier, said a senior Railway Ministry official and added for each subsequent 24 hours, the locker charge is Rs 30.

Similarly the cloak room charge has been revised from Rs 10 to Rs 15 and for each subsequent 24 hours, the rate is Rs 20 from February.

The cash-strapped railways effected a fare hike in all classes by 21 per cent from January 22 aiming to mop up Rs 6600 crore in a year. The fare hike across the board happened after 10 years as successive Railway Ministers opted for populist measures by not touching the passenger fare.

Many rail projects are being delayed due to the financial constraint and railways is looking for ways to increase its earnings to carry out ongoing works involving safety, passenger amenities and modernisation, said the official.