Railways starts surge pricing in Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi trains; fares to go up by up to 50%

New Delhi - Passengers travelling by Rajdhani, Shatadbi and Duronto trains will have to shell out between 10 and 50 per cent more under a dynamic surge pricing system to be introduced from September 9, aimed at raking in Rs 500 crore more during the current financial year. 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 a ceiling of 50 per cent. [caption id=“attachment_1607947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image[/caption] Modelled on the dynamic fare system in vogue in the aviation sector, the flexi fare system will be introduced on experimental basis in II AC, III AC, Chair Car in the three trains besides Sleeper class in Duronto trains. First AC and Executive Class have been kept out of the new system of the already prevailing high tariffs. The base fare for the three premium trains will be on flexi fare system, Railway Board Member Mohd Jamshed told PTI. There are total 42 Rajdhani trains, 46 Shatabdi and 54 Duronto trains and railways expect to garner about Rs 500 crore from the new fare structure in these trains. The passenger revenue target for the current fiscal is Rs 51,000 crore as against Rs 45,000 crore in the last fiscal, an increase of Rs 6000 cr for 2016-17. “We are introducing the flexi fare system which is dynamic in nature in these trains on an experimental basis and it will be reviewed after 3/4 months,” Jamshed said, adding “It will also act as a measure against touts.” For II AC and Chair Car, the maximum hike will be 50 percent while for III AC, it will be 40 percent. He said basically the hike is about one and a half times more in the flexi system. Other supplementary charges like reservation charges, superfast charge, catering charges, service tax as applicable shall remain unchanged. For example, the New Delhi-Mumbai 3AC fare in Mumbai Rajdhani, which is Rs 1,628 as base fare will be Rs 1,791 with 10 percent increase and it will go up to Rs 2,279 with maximum 50 percent increase. The revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued for journeys to commence on or after 9 September 2016. In case of tickets already issued at the pre-revised rates, the difference of the fare will not be collected from passengers.