Cash-starved Railways upgrades 48 trains to superfast, hikes fares

Indian Railways has upgraded 48 mail and express trains to superfast services by raising their designated speeds by an average five kilometres and increased fares so as to raise revenues for the cash-starved national transporter.

Passengers on these trains will now have to shell out Rs30 more for sleeper, Rs45 for Second and Third AC and Rs75 for First AC coaches in these 48 trains as per the new fare structure.

The additional levy is expected to help Railways raise an additional Rs70 crore in a year. The number of `superfast' trans with the Railways will also go up to 1,072.

These `superfast' trains will have an average speed of 55 km per hour against the present speed of 50 kmph for express and mail services, according to the revised timetable released on 1 November.

These upgraded trains will also not offer any additional amenities to passengers.

There is also no guarantee that these trains will run as scheduled. On the contrary, there is the possibility of trains, mostly north-bound, will be running late due to foggy weather.

Also, even the so-called super-fast trains like the Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi, run late on a regular basis.

The upgradation of trains is perhaps one way that railways can raise fares without inviting passenger fury.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its last report in July, had also made critical observations about the so-called superfast levy. The government auditor has found that passengers paid for superfast charge though the trains were not running at designated speeds. It has suggested that rules be made for refund of superfast surcharge to passengers, in cases where Superfast services have not been provided to the passengers.

"On test check, Audit observed that in North Central and South Central Railways, superfast charges (Rs11.17 crore) were levied and collected during the period 2013-14 to 2015-16 from the passengers on days, where 21 superfast trains did not attain the average speed of 55 kmph (on broad gauge) for a 'Superfast' train," the CAG observed in its report.

The Railways, however, has enough reasons for delays. Of the 33 listed reasons seven are outside its direct control, such as the alarm chain being pulled, protests on the tracks, bad weather, accidents and law and order situation.

As per Railway norms, a train that is up to 15 minutes late is considered to be on time. Beyond that, the punctuality parameters are divided into brackets of minutes - 16 to 30, 31 to 45 and 46 to 60. The last and most crucial segment is "more than an hour", which is open-ended - it covers all trains that are late by more than an hour, irrespective of the delay.