Railways likely to revise flexi-fare system

The railways ministry is planning to modify its flexi-fare system introduced in premier trains – Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto – as it was found that many berths were left vacant. The Railways may keep at least 50% of the berths in these trains at normal fare.

At present, the flexi-fare system, which was started on September 9 last year, allows only 10% of the seats to be sold at normal fare; thereafter it will go on increasing by 10% with every 10% of berths sold, with a ceiling of 50%.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, who reviewed the system a couple of days ago, found that several berths were vacant apparently because passengers opted for flight instead of travelling in trains at the same fare.