Trains Fares to be Hiked by 50 Percent, Opposition Red Flags the Move

New Delhi: The Railways have decided to put in place ‘flexi fare system’ for premier trains - Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi from September 9.

The base fare for Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains will be on flexi fare system, according to railways. However, there will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and Executive Class of travel in premier trains. While 10 per cent of the seats will be sold in the normal fare in the beginning, it will go on increasing by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold with the ceiling limit at maximum 50 per cent depending upon the demand. For 2AC and Chair Car, the maximum hike is 50 per cent while for 3AC, it is 40 per cent.

The revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued for journeys to commence on or after September 9, 2016. In case of tickets already issued at the pre-revised rates, the difference of the fare will not be collected from passengers.

For example, the New Delhi-Mumbai 3AC fare in Mumbai Rajdhani, which is Rs1628 as base fare will be Rs1791 with 10 pere cent increase and it will go upto Rs2279 with maximum 50 per cent increase. Other supplementary charges like reservation charges, superfast charge, catering charges, service tax as applicable shall remain unchanged. There are total 42 Rajdhani trains, 46 Shatabdi and 54 Duronto trains.

Opposition to the Flexi Fare System: Opposition political parties on Wednesday criticised the Modi government’s decision to introduce dynamic surge pricing system on Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains, dubbing it as anti-people and an illegal move aimed at stealing money from public pockets.

The Congress dubbed the dynamic surge pricing system on Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains, as anti-people and an illegal move aimed at stealing money from public pockets. Overburdening the common man by surge pricing formula in garb of dynamic fare reflects the anti-people mindset of Modi government. While the courts have quashed the entire surge pricing concept as arbitrary and excessively burdening the consumer in case of Uber and Ola cabs, Modi government seems to have borrowed this ‘illegal’ profiteering idea with a view to steal money from pockets of people of India, AICC incharge of media department Randeep Surjewala said.

Describing the proposed dynamic surge pricing system as another way to loot public, Janata Dal (United) Spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “Railways is in perpetual loss. No facilities or safety measures have been strengthened in trains. But still they hiked the fares.” He said bad days are ahead for common man as good days are passe now. CPI national secretary D Raja said this will be a burden on the people. “They (government) should have had made some announcement in the budget (for 2016-17) that they intend to increase (the fares). They have taken people by surprise. People are not aware of such hikes. Already, there is a confusion whether there will be a separate budget or it will be part of general budget. This is a burden on people.”

PTI