Be careful of misleading reports! Indian Railways denies charging extra fares from passengers; details
Attention, Indian Railways passengers! There have been some recent media reports on Railways charging extra fares from passengers. The Railway Ministry has claimed that these reports are misleading and not based on all the facts.
The national transporter had started Festival or Holiday special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers. According to the Railway Ministry, fare for such train services has been kept a little higher since the year 2015. This is an established practice and nothing new has been being done this year regarding this. The ministry said passenger train operations have always been subsidized by Indian Railways. The national transporter bears loss for travel by passenger.
Even in COVID-19 pandemic times, Indian Railways has been running trains. In many sections, the national transporter is running in low occupancy and still operating in public welfare. In all the train services that are being operated, apart from other classes, the trains have many 2S class coaches which have the lowest train fare in the reserved category.
According to the ministry, 40 per cent of the passengers have travelled in 2S class coaches in much better travelling conditions than pre-pandemic, unreserved travelling situations. As per the railway policy, passengers of the 2S class, even in special fare case are not charged more than an additional amount of Rs 15.
