Lok Sabha Question No. 446 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-24
Subject: Flexi Fare System
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Pankaj Chowdhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 446 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2019

## FLEXI FARE SYSTEM

†*446.  SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  people  are  preferring  to  travel  by  flights  instead  of trains due to higher fares in trains having flexi fare system and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the number of passengers in the passenger trains with flexi fare system has declined;
- (c)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along with  the  number of seats/berths booked  in  such  trains  as  per  their  passenger  capacity  and  the seats/berths that remained vacant since the inception of flexi fare scheme, till now, year-wise;
- (d)  whether the Government is likely to start normal ticket pricing fixation system after discontinuing the flexi fare system in view of its failure; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

)

## SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

(a)

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 446 BY SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.07.2019 REGARDING FLEXI FARE SYSTEM

(a)  to  (c):  Flexi  fare  is  applicable  to  only  141  number  of  trains  out  of 13452 trains as on date and in only AC 2 Tier, AC 3 Tier, AC chair car, sleeper and second class (reserved).  Out of these 141 trains, flexi fare is applicable in 32 trains for nine months only.

Railways and Airlines are different modes of transport, which are not comparable in the terms of volume, connectivity as well as convenience.

There is no fixed maximum limit of fare in Airlines whereas Railways have  fixed  maximum  fare  throughout  the  year.  Airline  fare  varies significantly depending on time of operation, stoppages, travel duration, Origin - Destination pair, carrier etc. Railways' fare may or may not be higher  than  the  air  fare  depending  upon  the  class  of  travel  as  well  as factors like peak/ lean periods. It is the choice of the passengers to opt either for Railway or Airlines as per their convenience and requirement.

(i). Alternative train services on normal fare structure are available over Indian Railways on the routes of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains.

(ii).  Railway  also  serves  a  large  number  of  passengers  boarding/deboarding at intermediate stations.

(iii).  The  average  occupancy  of  all  reserved  accommodation  including routes  of  flexi  fare  trains  during  2015-2016  (Non-flexi  period)  was 101.15% which has gone up to 105.80% in 2017-18 (Flexi period).

This shows that overall there has been no loss of traffic by Indian Railways to other mode of transport like Airlines.

Number of passengers booked in the trains having flexi fare has registered an increase of 0.95% for the period September 2016 to August 2018 (Two  full  year  Flexi  Fare  period before rationalization of

the scheme) as compared to corresponding period of previous years (Two full  year  non  Flexi  Fare  period).  Further,  overall  occupancy  of  Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains has registered a continuous increase since the inception of Flexi Fare. The details are as follows:

| Financial Year          |   % Age Occupancy of Flexi Fare Trains |
|-------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| 2016-17 (Sept to March) |                                  81.36 |
| 2017-18                 |                                  83.56 |
| 2018-19                 |                                  86.53 |
| 2019-20 (upto June)     |                                  97.01 |

(d)  &  (e):  Presently  there  is  no  proposal  to  discontinue  Flexi  Fare scheme.  The scheme since its inception has generated an additional earnings  of ₹ 2426  crores  up  to  June  2019.  However,  based  on  the feedback  from  different  quarters  a  committee  was  constituted  to review  the  flexi  Fare  scheme.  Further,  based  on  the  committee's recommendations  and  other  representations,  the  matter  has  been examined and  Flexi fare scheme in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains  has  been  rationalized  with  effect  from  15.11.18  for  journey commencing from 15.03.2019 on an experimental basis as under:-

(i).  Discontinuation  of Flexi  fare  scheme  from 15 trains for full year and  from  32  trains  during  pre  defined  lean  period  of  3  months (February, March & August).

(ii). Maximum cap of flexi fare scheme has been reduced to 1.4 times in all flexi fare applicable classes.

(iii).  Graded  discount  has  been  introduced  in  flexi  fare  trains  and Humsafar  trains,  where  class-wise  occupancy  is  less  than  60%,  4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train as under:-

| Occupancy   | Discount         |
|-------------|------------------|
| Up to 70%   | 20% on last fare |
| 70 to 80%   | 10% on last fare |
| Above 80%   | Nil              |

After this rationalization, both number  of passengers  and earnings from the trains having flexi fare have increased as compared with the corresponding period of previous years as under:

| Period                   |   Actual Passengers (In Lakh) |   Actual Earnings (In Crore) |
|--------------------------|-------------------------------|------------------------------|
| 15.03.2019 to 30.06.2019 |                        105.21 |                      1687.19 |
| 15.03.2018 to 30.06.2018 |                         97.06 |                      1617.44 |

*****