Railways takes a look at flexi-fares

new delhi — Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that Indian Railways is studying a dynamic pricing model, with discounts on train tickets as offered in airlines.

“We are studying a model under dynamic pricing, where we would also give discounts on train tickets, just the way in which it is offered in airways,” Goyal told reporters during a day-long brain storming session of railways titled Sampark-Samanvay-Samvad (connection, coordination and conversation) here.

He also asked why flexi-fares should only be meant for price increase in rail tickets. “Just like airlines and hotels, where a person gets discount while booking at last minute, it should also offer discounts on the routes with relatively low occupancy,” he stressed.

“We are exploring this possibility and as the chairman of Railway Board Ashwani Lohani has come from Air India, he is studying the same,” Goyal said.

The minister said that in 2018 railways will focus mainly on safety of passengers. “We are committed to the security of our passengers and we are thinking of providing Internet connectivity and CCTV on trains,” the minister said.

He also said that discussions are on to provide CCTV on all trains across India. To connect all the CCTVs, he said that railways will provide WiFi connectivity at every station. —