Indian Railways to Cut Fares of its Premium Shatabadi Trains on Selected Routes

The railways has identified as 25 such trains in which this will be implemented

New Delhi, Mar 25:  Seeing low passenger occupancy in Shatabadi trains, the railways has decided to slash fares of its premium train on some selected routes. The railways have identified as 25 such trains in which this new scheme will be implemented.

The move aims to increase passengers’ number and the board is already making a proposal in this regard. Last year pilot project was launched on two routes. In one section, where the pilot scheme was implemented, the earnings went up by 17 percent and passenger bookings by 63 percent.

Under the scheme, the fares were slashed on the trains running between Jaipur and Ajmer, and Bengaluru and Mysuru. Usually, these sections of the route witnessed low occupancy. And the move was successful.

In the Shatabdi running to Ajmer, the occupancy was low between Jaipur and Ajmer as people preferred to travel by buses which offered more affordable fares. Then the railways lowered price to match bus fare.

Recently, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal 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

In recent time, railways had introduced many services to attract passengers.  Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will now be providing cab service too. The railways have tied up with most popular cab aggregator Ola with an aim to provide door to door service to its passengers.