Indian Railways announces passenger fare hike: suburban fares remains untouched

Are you a traveller by nature and have plans to discover India on via train then it is a time when you should be informed that the train tickets prices have become dearer from the new year. Indian Railways has increased fares for passenger trains by up to 40paise.

The Ministry of Railways in its release said, "Indian Railways has continuously endeavoured to augment passenger experience through modernization and provision of improved facilities over trains and stations. In order to expand passenger amenities and facilities at railway stations and trains, it has become imperative to increase the fare marginally without overburdening any class of passengers".

It further said rationalisation of fares was also necessitated to take care of the burden on Indian Railways which increased due to implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. Fare revision will help in channelising the fast modernization of Indian Railway.

The fares for ordinary non-AC classes will be increased by 1 paisa/km, while fares for mail/Express Non-AC classes the fare will go up by 2 paise/km. For AC classes, the hike will be 4 paise/km. However, Railways has said that there will be no fare hike for passengers over suburban sections and season ticket holders. This class constitutes 66% of total passenger segment over Indian Railways.

The fare hike will impact long-distance passenger trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas, Humsafar, Gatiman and Garib Rath. However, passengers who have already booked tickets for travel in the coming year, will not be required to pay more during the journey.

No excess charges (difference of fare) will be slapped on passengers who have booked their tickets before January 1, 2019. However, any new tickets made by ticket checking staff in trains or at stations on or after January 1, 2020, will be charged on revised fare.

The last fare revision over Indian Railways was done in 2014-15.