The Indian Railways earned close to Rs 3 crore per day in 2022 from its flexi fare schemes in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains — a jump of over 20 per cent from 2019 — according to Right to Information (RTI) Act data accessed by News18.
More than 1.94 crore flexi fare tickets were booked in 2022, down from 2.04 crore in 2019. However, the earning from flexi fare has gone up from Rs 885 crore in 2019 to Rs 1,071 crore in 2022, the reply to an RTI filed by News18 shows. In turn, the average per day earning has gone up from Rs 242 crore in 2019 to Rs 293 core in 2022.
Further, the average per ticket earning has gone up from Rs 433 in 2019 to Rs 467 in 2020 and Rs 550 in 2022.
In the year 2020, when India and the world were hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Indian Railways sold over 86 lakh tickets under the scheme and earned Rs 404 crore. The next year, when the deadly second wave hit India, the Railways sold 1.28 crore tickets under the scheme and earned Rs 539 crore, the data shows.
The flexi fare scheme was introduced by the Railways in 2016 in premium trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. Under this scheme, the fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold subject to a maximum limit. No change has been made in the fare of First AC and Executive class.
According to the ministry, the scheme was introduced in order to recover the losses and provide passengers with a better travelling experience.
It is also important to note that the last time the Railways increased the fare was in June 2014. The train fares of all classes were increased by 14.2 per cent. Since then, there has been no hike in the train fare, except a “marginal increase” in 2020. The Railways in 2020 said it had to increase the fare “in order to expand passenger amenities and facilities at railway stations and trains” without “overburdening any class of passengers”.
The Railways had increased passenger fares by 1 to 4 paisa across various classes, only over the non-suburban sections of Indian Railways, from January 1, 2020. There was no fare hike for passengers over suburban sections and season ticket holders.
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