Passengers decry withdrawal of telescopic fares by railways

Indian Railways has, of late, been surreptitiously fleecing the common man through innovative methods. Starting with Tatkal, followed by Suvidha specials and dynamic pricing, where the fares charged are unreasonably high, the latest seems to be doing away with telescopic fares, says Oruganti Srinivas, an advocate and resident of TPT Colony.

Suvidha specials and trains with dynamic pricing are run on routes, which have high demand. Indian Railways is an organisation of the State with monopoly and its objective is to provide connectivity but not to squeeze people, says Mr. Srinivas.

Indian Railways has withdrawn the telescopic fare system without any notice, which is totally unfair as people opt for using multiple trains is mainly on account of lack of direct connectivity like train to Varanasi from Visakhapatnam or in the absence of regular trains to a particular destination.

“I went to the Central Reservation Office near the Railway Station in the city recently to book a ticket to Manguluru via Chennai as there was no direct train.

The telescopic ticket cannot be purchased online but to my dismay on going to the reservation office all the way, I learnt that the telescopic ticket system was withdrawn and I would have to shell out around ₹600 more for a 3rd AC ticket,” says BMS leader Bhavani Shankarudu.

B. Madhu Gopal