Railway flexi fares on their way out

As an image lifting drive, the Railway Ministry is mulling to do away with the dynamic flexi fare scheme for the premier Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains just around its first anniversary on September 9.

The idea is to scrap the flexi fare in favour of the passengers just when the festive season is around and the decision may come soon after the upcoming Cabinet expansion when the fate of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will be decided in terms of his offer to quit after a series of train accidents.

The flexi fares alike the airlines was the brainchild of Prabhu, who is a wellknown chartered accountant, to jack up the revenue of the debt-ridden national transporter, but it could fetch hardly Rs 500 crore as against his expectations of getting a minimum Rs 1,000 crore. Under the scheme, only 10% berths are sold on normal fare and thereafter the fare goes up by 10% for every 10% of berths reserved, stopping it only after it hits upper ceiling of 50%.

Prabhu ordered review of the scheme as early as in March after numerous complaints both to the Prime Minister’’s office and the Railway Ministry.

Discrepancies were so glaring that in some cases the fare of the second class AC berth was higher than that of AC-1 and in some cases higher than even airfare on certain routes. A senior Railway official said the ministry is aware that the flexi system dented the Indian Railways’’ image, though it was good in commercial terms.

A recent review undertaken by the railways showed that the revenue certainly increased but at the cost of loss of occupancy in some of the trains.