In a major relief to commuters, the Indian Railways on February 27 restored the Second Class Ordinary Fares on ‘Passenger Trains’ renamed as ‘Express Specials’ or ‘MEMU/DEMU Express’ Trains.
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Post-COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the Railways had gradually withdrawn ‘Passenger Trains’ by changing their nomenclature. The ‘Ordinary Class’ fares were dispensed with and the minimum cost of ticket was increased from ₹10 to ₹30 on par with Express Train fares.
According to railway sources, the Chief Booking Reservation Supervisors were informed that the minimum fare in Second Class Ordinary Trains had been reversed with effect from the wee hours of Tuesday.
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A day after The Hindu reported on the issue of ‘Passenger Trains’ being re-designated and charged Express Train fares on Monday, the Railway Board convened a review meeting and sent out an alert to all Zonal Railways across the network to revert back to the older fares, the sources said.
The report ‘Railways brings down the curtain on ‘passenger trains’ had highlighted how the era of ‘Passenger Trains’ had come to an end and commuters, especially small vendors, daily wage workers and other poor passengers, are paying double the charge for travelling in the same slow-moving train.
Acting on the instructions of the General Managers, the Principal Chief Commercial Managers of Zonal Railways ordered changes in the system to revise the ‘Ordinary Class’ fares.
Fares cut by 50%
With effect from the wee hours of Tuesday (February 27, 2024), the railways cut the fares in Ordinary Class by about 50% in all Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) and trains with numbers starting with ‘Zero’ The fare structure was also revised in the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) App.
The reduction in fares would be applicable to all trains which were earlier running as Passenger Trains and now as ‘Express Special’ or MEMU across the country, the sources said.