At Secunderabad station, a rail ticket may cost less than parking fee

HYDERABAD: Complaints about exorbitant parking rates in the city are not new. However, at Secunderabad railway station you may actually end up paying more for parking your vehicle than the price of a ticket for many train journeys from the station. Parking a two-wheeler at the station for 24 hours costs a whopping Rs 425, while a sleeper-class ticket to Vijayawada or Visakhapatnam costs around Rs 250.

M Rakshit, a resident of Begumpet, said, “I parked my two-wheeler at the parking lot of the railway station, thinking that I would not have to go through the hassles of booking a cab when I return.But I regret my decision. When I returned after two days, I had to pay Rs 900. My journey to Renigunta in sleeper class cost Rs 385. Even hiring a taxi from the station to my house in Begumpet would have not cost so much.”

Another passenger had to pay Rs 1,007 for parking his two-wheeler at the station for 56 hours. While two-wheeler parking for two days was about Rs 850, the charges went up to Rs 1,007 after adding the 18% GST.
“The rates we charge for parking were revised after introduction of GST. It is not the contractors’ decision,” said one of the contractors on condition of anonymity.
Since railway authorities assigned the parking lot to a new contractor, rates for parking a two-wheeler for the first hour went up to Rs 18 from Rs 12. The current contract period will end in April 2021.
However, while customers at Secunderabad railway station have to shell out Rs 450 for parking their two-wheelers for 24 hours, a visit to the two other major railway stations in the city – Kacheguda and Nampally — revealed that the rates were lesser. While in Kacheguda parking a two-wheeler for 24 hours cost Rs 100, it was Rs 142 in Nampally.
Officials of South Central Railway said that rates at Secunderabad station were high for premium parking to prevent congestion in the parking lot and also due to lack of enough space at the station.