Sops on AC 1st class, chair car may go

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 6

The travel by train in chair car executive and AC first class categories is likely to cost more as Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu is expected to unveil a slew of reforms in this year’s rail budget, key among them being doing away with concessions in fare.

Ministry officials, it is learnt, have been working out modalities to discontinue with the concessions on these two categories, besides delinking passenger fare from catering costs on Shatabdis, Rajdhanis and Durontos.

The fare for senior citizens travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh may go up from the current Rs 865 (for 60-plus men) and Rs 770 (58-plus women) to Rs 1,240. The Indian Railways offers 35 to 75 per cent fare concession for 53 categories, including senior citizens, MLAs and MPs, patients, freedom fighters, journalists and sportspersons.

Claiming there was “no rationale” behind continuing with the relief for AC first and executive class travel, the officials cited a study that showed that most of the travellers in these categories comprised those eligible for concession. As such, passengers ineligible for relief but willing to pay full fare do not find any berth, which also means annual loss of around Rs1,400 crore for the railways, a senior Railway Board member said.

Another key plan is delinking passenger fare from catering charges, which would mean those travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh in a Shatabdi would have to pay Rs130 and Rs150 less than the current fare for chair car and executive class. “The idea is to give passengers the choice of food instead of forcing a single menu on them. This is also aimed at limiting the railways’ role to its core activity of running trains,” said an official.