Travelling by trains is going to be costlier as Ministry of Railways has decided to introduce the flexi fare or surge pricing for Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains. The new fares will be implemented from September 9 onwards. Flexi fare is going to be same as that of OLA and Uber. That means the price of service will be directly proportional to the demand and will go up with increase in demand."The base fares will increase by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel," a railway ministry press release said.
"The changes in fares shall come into force from September 9, while the revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued in advance for journeys to commence on or after September 9," the statement by railway ministry said.
The railways further told that vacant berths left at the time of charting would be offered for current booking.
"Tickets under current booking shall be sold at the last price sold for that class and other supplementary charges like reservation fee, superfast charges, catering charges, service tax etc., as applicable shall be levied in full," the release said.
"The last price for every class of tickets for the particular train should 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.," statement said.
Key points regarding the surge:
• There will be an increase of 10% in base fares with every 10% of berths sold subject to a prescribed ceiling limit. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel.
• The changes in fares as above shall come into force w.e.f 09.09.2016.
• Vacant berths that would be left at the time of charting shall be offered for current booking. Tickets under current booking shall be sold at the last price sold for that class and other supplementary charges like reservation fee, superfast charges.
• The information should also 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 operation of various quotas available in these category of Trains shall be as under:
(a). Tatkal Quota: The present number of berths set aside for Tatkal quota in these trains shall be operated as per the existing guidelines. However, no additional charges as "Tatkal charges" will be levied. The berths assigned under the Tatkal quota shall 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.
(b). There shall be no Premium Tatkal Quota in these train services.
• Refund Rules: The refund rules will remain same.
• The revised fares will not apply to tickets already issued in advance for journeys to commence on or after 09.09.2016.