Cheaper travel: Flexi-fare on trains to be revised

Once the new system is in place, then half the passengers who book early will get an advantage of a cheaper fare.

The Railways will soon revise its flexi-fare system on premium trains such as Shatabdi, Duronto and Rajdhani. The move is aimed at selling half the seats without surge pricing.

In the current system that was introduced in 2016, the fares rise soon after the first 10 per cent of the tickets on a train are sold. The fares increase 10% with every 10% of the seats sold, with a maximum hike of 1.5 times the normal fares in sleeper, air-conditioned chair car and two-tier AC classes and 1.4 times in three-tier AC.

Once the new system is in place, then half the passengers who book early will get an advantage of a cheaper fare. The aim of the flexi-fare system was to generate additional revenues and reduce cross-subsidisation from freight.

Further the Railway Board is also contemplating a flat increase in fares on premium trains as on the New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express flagged off on October 17. The train does not have dynamic pricing, but the fares are 20% higher than the normal fares but around 19% cheaper than the highest fares offered on two- and three-tier AC coaches of other Rajdhani trains on the route.

OneIndida News