Travel To Become Costlier As Railways Hikes Fares From January 1
Indian Railways announced a fare hike across its national network, with the exception of suburban trains, with effect from January 1, 2020. The passenger fares for sleeper class have been hiked by 2 paise per kilometre and for 3AC, 2AC and AC first class by four paise per kilometre, as per a circular issued by the Railways on December 31. The Railways also increased the fares for passenger trains by 1 paisa per kilometre.
The fares of premium trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Humsafar, Vande Bharat, Duranto, Rajya Rani, Mahanama, Gatimaan, Garibrath, Jan Shatabdi, Yuva and Suvidha Express will also be revised to the extent of the increase in class-wise fares as per the notified fare table.
"It has become imperative to increase the fare marginally without over burdening any class of passengers," Indian Railways said in the release.
There will be no change in reservation fees and superfast surcharge, and the new fares will not be applicable to the tickets already booked.
And in a relief to the daily commuters, who constitute 66 per cent of the total passenger traffic on Indian Railways, there will be no hike for the suburban sections and season ticket holders.
Railway fares were last hiked in 2014-2015, when the fares for all categories of trains were raised by 14.2 per cent and freight charges went up by 6.5 per cent. The Railways did not hike the fares since then, but did introduce flexi-fare / Premium Tatkal schemes which led to a significant rise in fares on select trains. The Railways has also launched premium trains such as Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express with higher fare rates.
Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav had hinted last week that Railways was in the process of rationalizing its passenger and freight charges in view of financial crunch and imperatives of modernisation.
In a related development, the Union Cabinet approved big-ticket railway reforms on December 24 by merging its eight cadres and departments into a single entity.
