Indian Railways to revise flexi-fare scheme

The Indian Railways is likely to overhaul the flexi-fare system in which the national transporter may scrap it for nearly 40 trains.

Flexi-fare, which is also called dynamic pricing, is likely to be scrapped in some trains where the occupancy rate is below 40%, a senior official in the Railways said.

Besides, for some trains in less busy routes, the fare will be offered at 50% discount for seats available up to four days before the journey.

The flexi-fare system was introduced in 142 premiums trains, including the Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains on September 9, 2016. Though the national transporter raked in Rs 200 crore per annum under this, the system faced a lot of criticism as in some sectors, the fare was much higher than bus and airfares.

By revising the system, the Railways want to ensure its premium train passengers does not shift to air or luxury bus in some sectors, the official said.

Recently, a CAG report had come down heavily on the Railways over the flexi-fare prices and stated that a comparison of airfare in 13 sectors showed that travelling in an aeroplane was cheaper.

In terms of absolute numbers, the premium trains carried 2.4 crore passengers during the post-flexi period (September 9, 2016, to July 31, 2017) as compared to 2.47 crore passengers during the pre-flexi period (September 9, 2015, to July 31, 2016), said the CAG report.