Railways Diwali gift: Flexi fare removed from 15 trains -Governance Now

Railways Diwali gift: Flexi fare removed from 15 trains

After drawing criticism for a long time, the railways have scrapped flexi fare only in a handful trains out of over 100 trains

Vishwas Dass | November 1, 2018

#dynamic fare system #train fare #Indian Railways #flexi fare

In what could be seen as a relief to lakhs of passengers, Indian Railways has discontinued flexi or dynamic fare system in 15 trains having monthly occupancy of less than 50 percent. The decision would also be applicable for 32 trains, having monthly occupancy between 50-75 percent, but only for the lean period of three months.

To increase the occupancy of less patronised classes like AC 2, AC 3 and chair car class, 20 percent discount on last fare on all trains with flexi fare and Humsafar trains, having occupancy of less than 60 percent, will be given to passengers.

The railways have also reduced maximum current cap of 1.5 times to 1.4 times in all classes. The rationalisation of flexi fare decision is based on the recommendation of an eight member committee, Comptroller and Auditor General’s report and representations from passengers.

According to dynamic fare system, the base fare increases by 10 percent with every 10 percent of berths booked by the passengers, subject to a prescribed limit. There was no change in the existing fare for first AC and economy class.

Flexi Fare removed from below mentioned trains in 2018-19

Train no.	Train type	Train Name
12006	Shatabdi	Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi
12012	Shatabdi	Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi
12037	Shatabdi	New Delhi-Ludhiana Shatabdi
12038	Shatabdi	Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi
12043	Shatabdi	Moga(Ludhiana)-New Delhi Shatabdi
12044	Shatabdi	New Delhi-Moga(Ludhiana) Shatabdi
12047	Shatabdi	New Delhi-Bhatinda Shatabdi
12048	Shatabdi	Bhatinda-New Delhi Shatabdi
12085	Shatabdi	Guwahati-Dibrugarh Shatabdi
12086	Shatabdi	Dibrugarh-Guwahati Shatabdi
12087	Shatabdi	Naharlagun-Guwahati Shatabdi
12088	Shatabdi	Guwahati-Naharlagun Shatabdi
12277	Shatabdi	Howrah-Puri Shatabdi
22205	Duronto	Chennai-Madurai Duronto
22206	Duronto	Madurai-Chennai Duronto

As an instance, a chair car ticket of New Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi costs around Rs 800 but when a passenger books the same ticket just a few days before the train’s departure, the same would cost him between Rs 1,200-Rs 1,400 under flexi fare.

The railways have been drawing extensive criticism ever since it rolled out flexi fare system on September 9, 2016 for over 150 Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duranto class trains. The national transporter earns huge revenue from flexi fare. A lot of passengers criticised the railways for levying flexi fare and not mending basic amenities like food quality, cleanliness and hygienic bedsheets and blankets among others.

List of trains with occupancy between 50-75% from which flexi fare will be removed in lean period of 2018-19

Train No.	Train Name
12005	KALKA SHATABDI
12014	AMRITSAR SHATABDI
12016	AJMER SHATABDI
12018	DEHRADUN SHATABDI
12020	SHATABDI EXPRESS
12025	SHATABDI EXP
12026	PUNE SHATABDI
12030	SWARNA SHATABDI
12031	AMRITSAR SHATABDI
12032	AMRITSAR SHATABDI
12039	KGM NDLS SHT
12041	SHATABDI EXPRESS
12042	NJP HWH SHATABDI
12045	NDLS CDG SHATABDI
12046	CDG NDLS SHATABDI
12213	DURONTO EXPRESS
12214	YPR DURONTO EXP
12219	SC DURONTO EXP
12223	LTT ERS DURONTO
12224	ERS LTT DURONTO
12227	INDORE DURONTO
12228	MUMBAI DURONTO
12239	JAIPUR DURONTO
12240	JP MMCT DURONTO
12243	SHATABDI EXP
12244	SHATABDI EXP
12278	SHATABDI EXPRESS
12437	RAJDHANI EXP
12441	BSP NDLS RAJ EX
12442	BILASPUR RJDHNI
12453	RNC NDLS RAJ EXP
22414	NZM MAO RAJ

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