Claims that the Indian Railways is charging extra fares from passengers are false, "misleading and not based on all the facts", the government said. There have been reports in the media that Railways is charging extra fares from passengers.
The Ministry of Railways said in an official statement, "Festival / Holiday special trains were started as per the long standing practice to clear the rush. Festivals have been continuing and even today the harvest festival is being celebrated. This year there has been pent up demand on many sectors on which the festival trains were running. These festival trains have continued to clear the rush".
The ministry further added, "The fare for such trains has been kept little higher since 2015. NOTHING NEW (sic) is being done this year. This is an established practice".
"It may be noted that passenger operations have always been subsidized by Railways. Railways bear loss for travel by passenger. Railways has been running trains in covid times in most challenging circumstances. Running in low occupancy in many sections and still operating in public welfare. Not only this, Railways has taken special care about the travel by those travelling by lowest fare in trains so that even in Covid times they bear the least burden," the ministry said.
"In all the trains that are being run, besides other classes, the trains have a large number of 2S class coaches which have the lowest fare in the reserved category. 40 percent of the passengers have travelled in 2S class in much better traveling conditions than pre COVID, unreserved travelling situations. As per the policy, 2S passengers, even in special fare cases are NOT charged more than additional Rs 15," the ministry said.
Indian Railways has been constantly increasing the number of trains in a graded manner. Full restoration of regular services of passenger trains, to pre-covid times, is to be considered keeping in view a range of factors and operational circumstances, it said.