New Delhi, Dec 25 (UNI): Indian Railways has announced a “rationalisation” of its passenger fare structure, assuring that suburban services, season tickets and second-class ordinary journeys up to 215 kilometres will remain untouched, to keep the impact on daily and short-distance travellers to a minimum.
The new fares will apply only to tickets booked from December 26, leaving all existing bookings unaffected.
Under the revised framework, sleeper and first-class ordinary fares will see a nominal increase of just one paise per kilometre, and Mail and Express train fares across AC and non-AC classes will rise by only two paise per kilometre, with no changes to reservation fees, superfast charges, GST applicability or fare-rounding rules.
In a statement issued here, the Ministry of Railways stated that the rationalisation of fares has been done with the objective of balancing affordability for passengers and sustainability of operations.
Under the revised fare structure, there is no change in fares for suburban services and Season Tickets, including both suburban and non-suburban routes. For Ordinary Non-AC (Non-Suburban) services, fares have been rationalised in a graded manner across Second Class Ordinary, Sleeper Class Ordinary, and First Class Ordinary.
In Second Class Ordinary, there is no increase in fare for journeys up to 215 km, ensuring that short-distance and daily commuters are not impacted. For distances from 216 km to 750 km, the fare increases by Rs 5. For longer journeys, the increase is applied in steps, Rs10 for distances between 751 km and 1,250 km, Rs 15 for distances between 1,251 km and 1,750 km, and Rs 20 for distances between 1,751 km and 2,250 km.
In Sleeper Class Ordinary and First Class Ordinary, fares have been revised uniformly at the rate of 1 paise per kilometre for non-suburban journeys, ensuring a gradual and limited increase in fares.
In Mail/Express trains, the fare increase has been rationalised at 2 paise per kilometre across Non-AC and AC classes. This includes Sleeper Class, First Class, AC Chair Car, AC 3-Tier, AC 2-Tier, and AC First Class.
As an illustration, for a 500 km journey in non-AC Mail/Express coaches, passengers will pay only about Rs 10 extra.
The existing basic fares of major train services, including Tejas Rajdhani, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Humsafar, Amrit Bharat, Tejas, Mahamana, Gatimaan, Antyodaya, Garib Rath, Jan Shatabdi, Yuva Express, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail, and Ordinary non-suburban services (excluding AC MEMU/DEMU, where applicable), have been revised in line with the approved class-wise basic fare increases. The revision has been carried out uniformly and in a calibrated manner across applicable classes.
The revised fares are applicable only on tickets booked on or after December 26. Tickets booked prior to this date will not attract any additional charges, even if the journey is undertaken after the effective date. The fare list displayed at stations will also be updated to reflect the new fares, said Indian Railways in a statement
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