Modi govt’s New Year gift: Train passenger fares hiked

On the New Year's eve, the railways announced fare hike across its network effective from January 1, 2020, according to an order issued on Tuesday.

While suburban fares remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares were increased by 1 paise per km of journey.

The railways also announced a two paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes.

The fare hike is also applicable to premium trains such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto, according to the order.

In the Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani, which covers a distance of 1,447 km, the hike at the rate of 4 paise per km will be around Rs 58.

According to the order, there will not be any change in the reservation fee and superfast charge and the hike in fares will not be applicable to tickets already booked.

The last such hike was announced in 2014-2015 when fares of all classes of trains were raised by 14.2 per cent and freight charges by 6.5 per cent. However, since then, the railways introduced the flexi-fare scheme which significantly raised fares on select trains and launched trains like Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express which have relatively higher fares. Trains with dynamic pricing like Suvidha Express were also introduced.

The railways in a statement said the revenue generated by the "marginal" increase in fare will be used for the modernisation of the network.

"Indian Railways has continuously endeavoured to augment passenger experience through modernization of coaches and provision of improved facilities over stations. Further, the burden of 7th Pay Commission on Indian Railway has necessitated rationalization of fares.

"In order to expand passenger amenities and facilities at various railway stations and trains, it has become imperative to increase the fare marginally without over burdening any class of passengers. Fast modernization of Indian Railways will be achieved through this fare revision," it said.

It also said the suburban passengers have been left out of the hike keeping the "affordability concerns of daily commuters".

The increase in fare will be on tickets bought on or after January 1, 2020 and no excess fare (difference of fare) will be charged from passengers who have booked tickets before this date.

The hike will have no effect on the catering charges, officials said.