The Railways on Wednesday decided to introduce the surge pricing system for its premium trains like Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi from Friday. As per a notification by the Ministry, the base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling. In simple terms, it means that only 10 per cent seats or berths will be sold at normal rate.
The price surge will be to the maximum extent of 50 per cent for 2AC and Chair Car while for 3AC the maximum surge will be 40 per cent. Other supplementary charges like reservation charges, superfast charge, catering charges, service tax as applicable shall remain unchanged. There are total 42 Rajdhani trains, 46 Shatabdi and 54 Duronto trains.
According to surge pricing system, if New Delhi Mumbai Rajdhani Third AC Fare is Rs2,085 inclusive of all charges and its base fare is Rs1,625, then the cost of ticket can go up to Rs2,685. Similarly in second AC class if the fare is Rs2,870, then surge price maximum on base fare would be at Rs4,305.
Vacant berths left at the time of charting would be offered for current booking where tickets under current booking would be sold at the last price sold for that class. Other supplementary charges like reservation charges, Superfast charge, Catering charges, Service tax etc., as applicable will be levied separately. Price surging system is currently involved with the fare structure of flight bookings and recently evens the private cab operators too has opted for it.
“The information will be displayed to the passenger during the booking in case the fare of lower class becomes higher than the higher class to exercise option to travel by the higher class. The last price for every class of tickets for the particular train has to be printed in the reservation chart for the purpose of charging of difference of fare in the train or charging the passengers of the train without ticket etc,” said a railway official.
The present limit of berths set aside for Tatkal quota in these trains will be operated as per the existing guidelines. However, no additional charges as “Tatkal charges” will be levied. The berths assigned under the Tatkal quota will be booked at the rate of 1.5 times of the base fare for all classes (2S, Sl, 2A, 3A and CC) except 1AC and EC. There will be no Premium Tatkal Quota in these train services.
Normal concession as applicable for respective concessional ticket will be admissible on the base fare of the ticket at each stage and there will be no change in the existing refund rules.
The revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued in advance for journeys to commence on or after September 9, 2016. In the case of tickets already issued at pre-revised rates, the difference of fare will not be collected from the passengers.