Indian Railways.
Train travel has become expensive from today i.e. Friday. The Railway Ministry had increased the fares which is coming into effect from today. The Railway Ministry on Thursday issued a notification to increase the price of ordinary class tickets by one paise per kilometer and ticket prices of non-air-conditioned (AC) classes of mail/express trains and air-conditioned (AC) classes of all trains by two paise per kilometer for journeys of more than 215 kilometers.
The ministry had announced on December 21 that passenger fares would be increased from December 26 (today). This is the second time in a year that the ministry has revised passenger rail fares. Earlier in July the fare was increased.
Railway Ministry said its decision was right
Justifying its decision, the ministry said that the objective of making fares affordable is to strike a balance between sustainability (of tickets) for passengers and sustainability of operations. The ministry said in a statement that under the revised fare structure, there has been no change in the fares of suburban services and season tickets.
This includes both suburban (sub-urban) and non-suburban routes. For ordinary non-AC (non-suburban) services, fares have been rationalized in a graded manner into Second Class Ordinary, Sleeper Class Ordinary and First Class Ordinary.
Know how much fare increased in which category?
The ministry has said that there has been no increase in fares for journeys up to 215 kilometers in second class general, which will not affect passengers traveling short distances and daily.
- The fare is Rs 5 for distance between 216 km to 750 km.
- Rs 10 for distance between 751 km to 1250 km.
- Rs 15 for distance between 1251 km to 1750 km.
- There will be an increase of Rs 20 for the distance from 1751 km to 2250 km.
No extra charges on these tickets
The same increase will be applicable class wise in other special trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas, Humsafar, Amrit Bharat, Garib Rath, Jan Shatabdi, Antyodaya, Gatimaan, Yuva Express, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail. There has been no change in reservation fee, superfast charge etc. GST will also remain applicable as before.
It said, ‘The revised fare will be applicable only on tickets booked on or after today (December 26). No additional charges will be levied on tickets booked before this date, even if the journey is performed after the effective date.