Railways raises RAC quota, pares Tatkal seats and offers rebate on Flexi fares to woo passengers
20 Dec 2016
The Railways has decided to increase the number of berths to be available under the Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) category and reduce the number of Tatkal quota in bid to stall the fall in passenger bookings in trains, especially the premium services.
The total number of confirmed RAC accommodation in sleeper coaches will go up from 10 to 14, while it will go up from two to eight seats in 3AC coaches and from two to six in 2AC coaches.
The 'tatkal' quota earmarked in Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains has been reduced to 10 per cent of the total class-wise accommodation.
There will be a review of utilization of 'tatkal' quota by Zonal Railways after a fortnight and based on the utilisation, the quota might be raised up to a maximum of 30 per cent of total class-wise accommodation in the train.
Railways has also revised the flexi-fare structure in premium trains - offering 10 per cent rebate on vacant berths after finalisation of the reservation charts - to attract last-minute passengers.
The changes will be implemented on an experimental basis for six months beginning 20 December.
At present, the fares of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi can go up to 50 per cent above the base fare as per the flexi fare system introduced on 9 September.
According to the notification, the higher fares in premier trains can go up to 40 per cent instead of earlier 50 per cent ceiling after finalisation of the reservation chart.
The reservation fee, the super-fast charge and the service tax as applicable will be levied in full.
The move is expected to allow more people to travel in the train. The enhanced RAC accommodation will be available in trains in which booking will be opened from 16 January, 2017.
The Railways had on 9 September 2016 introduced the flexi fare system in the Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains - in which fares could rise between 10 per cent and 50 per cent higher than the base fare with the rise in demand (See: Railways says 'flexi fare' is 'experimental').
The move was aimed at earning an additional Rs500 crore in the current financial year.
However, the Flexi fare system left 5,871 vacant berths in these three trains between 9 September and 31 October 2016, according to Railways.
Meanwhile, national carrier Air India, in its bid to attract more fliers and achieve a higher seat occupancy in its flights on trunk routes, had in a similar move in July decided to lower its last-minute ticket fares to the level of tier-2 AC Rajdhani trains.
