Indian Railways hikes passenger fare

January 2, 2020 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

Indian Railways announced hike on passenger fare on Tuesday. The hike came into effect from yesterday, i.e. January 1, 2020.

Railways hiked the fare of all trains except for suburban trains. The suburban commuters are daily commuters who represent more than 66% of total passengers of Railways. Keeping their affordability in mind, the charges for this network has not been hiked by the Railways.

Ordinary non-AC, non-suburban, mail and express non-AC and AC fares have been hiked by 1 to 4 paise per kilometer.

The fare has been hiked by 4 paise per kilometer for all AC trains and the hike is 2 paise/km for long-distance mail/express trains. For all non-AC classes and the unreserved segment, the fare has gone up by 1 paisa/km.

The hike is also applicable to premium trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto.

However, the increased fares are not applicable on tickets that were booked before January 1, 2020. The reservation fee and superfast charge will not be changed for these tickets.

Now, the train journey between Delhi and Mumbai costs ₹60 more in AC classes on Rajdhani-type trains and ₹55-60 more on other mail/express trains with the increased fare.

It costs around ₹15-20 more on Shatabdi-type trains. The Railways anticipated adding nearly ₹2300 crore more to its revenue per year through this hike. This hike would also help it achieve quick modernization.

Regarding the hike, Railways released a statement which said that it has become essential to hike the fares slightly to improve the amenities of passengers. Since it is a slight hike, it does not overburden any class of passengers.

This hike came after nearly 5 years. Railways hiked the fares in 2014. At that time, the fare of all classes of trains was hiked by 14.2% and freight charges by 6.5%.

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