Indian Railways introduces Uber-styled 'surge-pricing' on select trains

Following taxi-hailing applications, Ola and Uber, and airlines, now Indian Railways planning to bring in 'surge-pricing' on key trains. The system will come into force from tomorrow. 

Ministry of Railways on Wednesday announced that they have decided to introduce the flexi fare system for Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains. 

How will it work?

According to the Ministry, the base fares of these trains will increase by 10% with every 10% of berths sold. This means, only the first 10% of the seats will be sold at the normal fare and the base fare will increase by 10% with every 10% of berths sold.

After the 50% of seats sold, the rest will be priced 1.5 times higher the base price for 2S, Sleeper and 2AC coaches. For 3AC the seats will be sold at 1.4 times higher. 

This system will not be applied on the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel.

"Vacant berths left at the time of charting will be offered for current booking. Tickets under current booking shall be sold at the last price sold for that class and other supplementary charges like reservation fee, superfast charges, catering charges, service tax etc., as applicable shall be levied in full," the Ministry said.

The last price for every class of tickets for the particular train will be printed on the reservation chart for the purpose of charging of difference of fare in the train or charging the passengers of the train without ticket.

Tatkal Quota

According to the Ministry, though the number of seats assigned under this quota will remain same but, the berths will be booked at the rate of 1.5 times higher of the base fare for all the classes (2S, Sleeper, 2A, 3A and CC) except 1AC and EC.

There will be no 'Premium Tatkal Quota' in these train services. 

Also, there will be no change in the existing refund rules.

"There will be no change in charges for reservation fee, superfast surcharge etc. Such charges, wherever applicable, shall continue to be levied additionally as per existing instructions. Normal concession as applicable for respective concessional ticket will be admissible on the base fare of the ticket at each stage", the Ministry added.

Further, the Ministry said that there will be no change in the existing refund rules. If a passenger has already booked the advance tickets for on and after September 9, the revised fares will not be applied. 

How much your Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express ticket will cost?

For instance, presently, the fare for the above route in 3AC costs around Rs 1628. With 10% increase in base fare, the ticket price will go upto Rs 1791. With 1.5 times, the price will be as high as Rs 2279. 

According to a PTI report, there are total 42 Rajdhani trains, 46 Shatabdi and 54 Duronto trains. With the new fare structure in these trains, Indian Railways expects to garner about Rs 500 crore.

"The passenger revenue target for the current fiscal is Rs 51,000 crore as against Rs 45,000 crore in the last fiscal, an increase of Rs 6000 cr for 2016-17", said the report.