To augment passenger turnout, fares for 25 such low-ridership trains to be slashed

With no resolution yet on scrapping the controversial flexi fare scheme, the railways are trying other options to retain passengers under optimum utilisation of resources.

To begin with fares in premium Shatabdi Express on routes with low passenger turnout will be slashed and for this 25 Shatabdi trains have been identified.

The move to lower fares comes following the success of a pilot project launched on two routes — New Delhi Ajmer and Chennai Myusuru Shatabdis — couple of months ago. In one segment alone, earnings augmented by 17 per cent and passenger bookings by 63 per cent.

The Railways runs around 45 Shatabdi trains. Under the scheme, the fares were reduced between Jaipur and Ajmer, and Bengaluru and Mysuru — the sections of the route which witnessed perpetual low occupancy. The move yielded positive results since fares in these premium trains were scaled down to equivalent to bus fares plying on the same stretch.

“The Ministry of railways  has been facing flak over the flexi-fare scheme and the general contention that it has led to a spike in fares in Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto trains. Even the committee formed to review the scheme has been unable to do something concrete. last week, in the review meeting of the committee, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal called for another sitting on the subject amid indication  that the controversial scheme is here to stay. “It may be tweaked or customised , “ said a senior railway official.

Both Goyal and Railway Board chairman Ashwani lohani had announced  to review the flexi fare scheme and a committee was formed  in December 2017 with a  one month timeframe to make its recommendations..

The official said the measures being adopted are part of an exhaustive exercise initiated by the Railways for optimum utilisation of resources.

“One such exercise is reducing the layover time of a train for introducing more services. By reducing the layover time of train, the Railways is now looking to run 100 new trains on shorter and longer routes. While 25 new trains have already been introduced, 75 more would be run within this year,” said the official.

layover time refers to the time a train remains stationed at the terminating or originating point. This time is being utilised to run the train on new routes, optimising the resources. The Railways had announced that a detailed analysis was carried out about layover time and the results have helped railways identify the routes on which new services can be introduced.

Officials said if the Satabdi scheme succeeds, the railway may repeat the same experiment in Rajdhani express on routes with lesser booking.