The ticket price of 101 trains decreased by Railway, as a Diwali gift to Passengers

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Railway has decided to give a gift to passengers just before Diwali. India Railways has reduced the flexi-fare rate in as many as 101 trains, while completely scrapping the scheme for 15 premium trains. The system has been completely scrapped in trains with less than 50 per cent occupancy, while 20 per cent discount will be offered in trains with less than 60 per cent occupancy.

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It has also reduced flexi fares from 1.5 to 1.4 times the base ticket fare in 101 trains, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said Wednesday. On September 9, 2016, the railways had introduced flexible-fare for premier trains: 44 Rajdhani, 52 Duronto and 46 Shatabdi Express trains.

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The step comes in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in July that had flagged the dipping occupancy level since the scheme was introduced in September 2016 and had recommended rationalisation of flexi-fare.

Sources in railways also said that while the railways will incur losses of around Rs 103 crore by the changes brought into the scheme, it hopes to recover not just the losses but also generate additional revenue by increasing occupancy through the reduced fares.

The changes will be implemented from the advance reservation period on an experimental basis for six months to be further extended after assessing the outcome, the source said.

In July this year, the CAG in its report tabled in Parliament highlighted that tickets on the Indian Railways’ premium trains were much higher as compared to airfares.

It stated that while the introduction of the flexi-fare system in premium trains – Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto – has led to increase in passenger earnings in this category of trains to Rs 552 crore, they have carried 6.75 lakh fewer travellers during September 9, 2016 to July 31, 2017, compared to the corresponding period in 2015-2016.

In terms of absolute numbers, the premier trains carried 2.40 crore passengers during post-flexi fare period (September 9, 2016 to July 31, 2017) as compared to 2.47 crore passengers during pre-flexi fare period (September 9, 2015 to July 31, 2016), said the CAG in its report.