Indian Railways’ Diwali Bonanza For Passengers: Likely To Partially Scrap Flexi Fare, Give Discounts

The passengers of Indian railway are likely to get a Diwali gift as the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal is reported to announce a partial scrapping of the flexi-fare scheme on Friday (26 October), Financial Express has reported.

The flexi fare, also known as dynamic pricing scheme, launched in September 2016 for 142 premium trains which included 52 Duronto Express, 44 Rajdhani Express and 46 Shatabdi Express trains.

Under the system, for every 10 per cent of berths being booked, the fair increases by 10 per cent. A fare cap of 140 per cent and 150 per cent is maintained for AC-III tier and all other classes. This is not applicable for AC First Class and Executive Chair Car.

The flexi-fare scheme, before the Diwali and Chhath Pooja rush, may see features like a discount of up to 50 per cent on last minute bookings made up to four days of the journey date and graded discounts up to 20 per cent on trains that have less than 50 per cent utilisation.

“The idea is to the strike a balance and address grievances of passengers. On routes where the utilisation is low, we will offer competitive fares so that the occupancy goes up and it is a win-win situation for both the passengers and Indian Railways,” claimed the report.

Apart from this, Flexi-fare schemes for 40 trains may be scrapped while other 102 trains may see discount offers.