Beginning January 1, rail passengers will get 10 per cent discount on vacant seats booked after the preparation of reservation charts on all trains.
The Indian Railways had started this experiment on Shatabdi, Duronto and Rajdhani trains earlier this month and the trial will now be extended to all trains for six months.
“It has now been decided that a 10 per cent rebate shall also be applicable in the reserved class of all other trains w.e.f 01.01.2017 on an experimental basis for six months,” a Railway Ministry circular dated December 28 said.
The discount will be applicable on the base fare of the last ticket sold for a particular class before the preparation of the first chart, the Ministry said. The first chart is usually prepared four hours before the train departure.
To ensure transparency, the last sold price of the ticket for the train will be printed on the chart. The discount will also be valid on booked seats where passengers fail to turn up.
Zonal Railways will prepare a report on this scheme and submit it to the Railway Board by April 31, 2017 “to consider further extension of this scheme.”
The Railway Ministry had started this experiment while reviewing the flexi-fare system on such trains after witnessing a dip in traffic on certain routes due to higher fare.
