Railways increases Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi fares through surge pricing
The tickets will cost more as soon as 10% of the seats get booked. The price will be capped at 1.5 times the base fare.
The Union Ministry of Railways on Wednesday introduced a "flexi fare system" for Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains, effectively increasing the price of the tickets based on the number of seats reserved on the train.
The new system cashes in on demand much like "surge pricing" used by taxi aggregators. According to the new formula, the base fares for these trains will increase by 10% with every 10% of berths sold. For instance, if 40% of the seats fill up, the ticket will cost 40% more. This has been capped at 1.5 times (or 50% more than) the base fare. Tatkal bookings will cost a flat 1.5 times the base fare. No ticket will cost less than the base price.
The last price for every class of tickets for a particular train will be printed in the reservation chart. However, the new fares are not applicable for AC First Class and Executive Class tickets.
The revised rates will come into effect for tickets purchased from September 9 onwards.
Here's how the fares will change:
