The great Indian railway robbery

Railways adds berths/seats to coaches to boost revenues, but forgets all about discount of 5 to 10% Lalu had promised to passengers for the inconvenience
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Thursday, November 27, 2008 (Ahmedabad Mirror)

Even as passengers fret over cramped compartments following introduction of an additional berth in each cabin in some trains, they are blissfully unaware of the fact that the Railways is laughing its way to the bank at their expense.

Six months back when the Railways set about upgrading bogies to accommodate more passengers in every cubicle of a compartment, it was decided that each passenger in such bogies would get 5 to 10 per cent discount in fare.

This was perhaps the Railways way to compensate passengers for the inconvenience or may be a generous offer to share the ‘spoils’. But the fact remains that not a single passenger in the last six months has been given this discount.

Almost every train in India now has at least some bogies with this new configuration of berths. According to a senior railway officer, almost 25 per cent of all bogies in all railway zones now have the new configuration.Just imagine the money the Railways has earned by not compensating passengers for compromising their comfort in an effort to boost revenues.

Under the new configuration, each cubicle of an AC 3-tier or a 3-tier sleeper coach now has nine berths instead of eight. An AC chair car, under the new configuration, seats 102 passengers instead of 67. The new configuration, as mentioned earlier, has not been a feature in all trains.

The Railway budget also mentions increasing AC 2-tier capacity to 48 from 46 and that of AC First Class to 22 from 18.So, it seems while Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has drawn up ambitious plans to boost revenues, his officers have forgotten the promise to compensate passengers.The Indian Railways profit in 2007-08 stands at a staggering Rs 25,000 crore. The new, upgraded coaches have already been introduced in trains that pass through Ahmedabad — Lokshakti Express, Howrah Express, Siachen-Sayajinagari Express and Thiruvananthapuram-Bikaner Express.While the Railways Timetable (page 294) details basic fares of trains with the new coaches and the discounts offered, these have not been fed into the reservation software used at ticket booking counters across India. The explanatory notes for fares in the timetable clearly mentions that under the variable fare scheme, the basic fares for the newly designed high capacity coaches will be reduced — there shall be a 5 per cent discount on 72-berth, 102-berth (AC chair car) and 81-berth (third AC) during the peak period and a 6-10 per cent discount during the lean period. The lean period stretches from February 1 to March 31 and during the month of August, while the peak period is from April 1 to July 31 and September 1 to January 1.“I felt cheated the last time I travelled by Thiruvanthapuram-Bikaner Express. Instead of eight berths in a cubicle, there were nine! Which meant I had to accommodate one more person beside me.

And now I learn that the booking officials should have given me a discount! So what did they do of the extra money charged from me?” asks Arunya Pillai, a central government employee.Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Udayshankar Jha said, “We had sought clarification from Mumbai about the revised fares.