It’s early Diwali for Indian Railways! Relieves passengers by reducing price with scrapping flexi-fare in 15 premium train

New Delhi, October 31: In a relief for passengers, railways has scrapped flexi-fare in 15 premium trains in which the occupancy is less than 50% throughout the year, while the scheme will be discontinued in 32 other trains during lean periods when occupancy dips to 50-75%.

Indian Railway has also reduced flexi fares from 1.5 to 1.4 times the base ticket fare in 101 trains, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday. 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.

Some trains in which the scheme will be discontinued because of low occupancy include Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi, Howrah Puri Rajdhani, Chennai-Madurai Duronto. The trains in which flexi fares will not be applicable during lean periods include Amritsar Shatabdi, Indore Duronto, Jaipur Duronto, Bilaspur Rajdhani, Kathgodam-Anandvihar Shatabdi, Ranchi Rajdhani among others. On September 9, 2016, the railways had introduced flexi-fare for premier trains: 44 Rajdhani, 52 Duronto and 46 Shatabdi Express trains.

Under this, the base fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, subject to a prescribed limit. There was no change in the existing fare for first AC and economy class.

"As a gift to passengers this festive season, Railways has decided to reduce Flexi Fares from 1.5 to 1.4 times the base ticket fare, and to completely remove Flexi Fares from trains with less than 50 per cent occupancy," the minister tweeted.

"Win-Win Situation: The reduction of Flexi Fares is going to benefit both the passengers that can now avail tickets at cheaper rates, as well the Railways that will see a surge in demand and occupancy," he said.

Indian Railways will, however, continue to apply flexi-fare in 101 trains in which the average monthly occupancy through the year is more than 75 per cent. The railways will also offer graded discount in fares for all classes of current fexi-fare trains with occupancy less than 60 per cent, four days prior to scheduled departure from originating stations.

For up to 70 per cent occupancy, the discount will be 20 per cent on last fare, from 70-80 per cent occupancy, the discount will be 10 per cent on last fare. On an average, sale of 10 per cent of vacant berths will yield around Rs 55 crore for railways, the source said.

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

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.