On July 8, 2023, the Indian Railway Board announced that the fares of AC Chair Car, executive classes of all trains, including the Vande Bharat will be reduced by up to twenty-five percent.
The Railways said that the decision was part of the discounted fare scheme in trains that saw below fifty percent occupancy during the last thirty days. With a view to optimising the utilization of accommodation in trains, the railway ministry said that it has decided to delegate powers to Zonal Railways to introduce fare scheme trains with AC sitting accommodation.
The Railways has introduced this scheme in the AC Chair Car and Executive Classes of all trains having AC accommodation, including the Anubhuti and Vistadome coaches, up twenty-five percent depending upon occupancy, as per the order from the Indian Railway Board.
The Railway Ministry said that a discount of up to twenty-five per cent would be applied to the basic fare, and other charges, such as reservation charges, super-fast charges, GST, etc., would be levied separately.
During the last thirty days, trains with classes with occupancy less than 50 percent (end to end or in some specified legs and sections) shall be considered. The fares of competitive modes of transport shall be the criteria while deciding the quantum of discount.
Such discount will be initially implemented for a period as decided by the Principal Chief Commercial Managers of the zones corresponding to originating stations of the training subject to a minimum of six months for the journey dates when it is implemented.
The discounted fare may be given for the entire duration or part duration or even month-wise or seasonal or for weekdays and weekends based on the demand pattern of the aforementioned period. No refund of the fare shall be admissible for already booked passengers.
In cases of trains where the flexi fare scheme is applicable in a particular class and the occupancy is poor, the flexi fare scheme has to be withdrawn initially as a measure to increase the occupancy, and this scheme will not be applicable on special trains introduced as holiday trains and festival trains.
The Tatkal Quota shall not be earmarked in such trains for the decided period in the case the discount is provided for part of the journey of the train, then the Tatkal Quota may not be provided for the part of the journey where the discount is given.
This discount is applicable for tickets booked up to the preparation of the 1st Chart and during the current booking. The discount may also be permitted onboard by the TTE, and this provision of this scheme shall be applicable for up to one year.
Data shows that the occupancy rate of recently launched Vande Bharat Express trains of four new routes such as Indore-Bhopal, Jabalpur-Bhopal, and Madgaon-Mumbai, have very low occupancy rates in the range of 21 per cent to 55 per cent.
Tickets for the VIPs such as MLAs, ex-MLA, MPs, ex-MPs, and freedom fighters will be booked on the original class-wise fare and not on discounted fare. The end of the June data sourced by the PTI showed that the Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat express service just recorded just 29 per cent of occupancy, whereas the return journey of the same route had only 21 per cent occupancy.
Similarly, the Nagpur-Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express has an average occupancy of around 55 per cent, and the Bhopal-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express has clocked 32 per cent occupancy, while the return journey on the same route has seen a 36 per cent occupancy.
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