With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) coming into effect from July 1, train passengers will have to pay a bit more to travel AC and first class.

Service tax on ticket charges is set to increase from 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent after the GST implementation.

Service tax is levied only on AC and first class travel fares in the Railways. So if a ticket costs Rs. 2,000, then a passenger will have to shell out Rs. 2010 from the next month, said a senior railway ministry official.

Gearing up for the GST roll-out from July 1, the Railways has appointed a nodal officer in each state to ensure the smooth transition into the new single tax regime. A consultant has been appointed for examining the impact of the GST in the Indian Railways, the official said.

Since GST registration is based on PAN details, Railways has already got its PAN. The General Manager of each zone has been nominated as the Principal Officer for taking care of GST compliance.

The Centre for Railway Information Systems, the IT arm of Indian Railways, is in the process of making suitable software modification in respect of transportation of freight and passengers. Though major transactions of the railways have been computerized, a few are still done off-line. Steps are being taken to digitize them also.

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