Vande Bharat Express: Train Fare On Low-Occupancy Sectors Likely To Be Revised

Reeling under the impact of low occupancy rate in some Vande Bharat trains, the Indian Railways is planning to revise the fare structure of the semi-high speed service to attract more passengers.

The fare of Vande Bharat Express is on the higher side in comparison to other mail/express trains.

An exercise has begun to lower the fare of Executive Class, as well as Chair Car, in some sectors where the occupancy is much below than the expectation, according to sources.

The fear of low occupancy has forced the Railways to postpone the launching of Chennai-Vijaywada Vande Bharat Express this week.

According to the rate directorate of the Railways, in Vande Bharat trains, it is roughly 40 per cent more than the normal fare, because of increased input cost of the service.

Since the acceleration and deceleration of Vande Bharat train is faster, the train consumes more power than other trains. The semi-high speed also gets priority path as against other trains.

Besides, there are modern facilities being provided in the train as part of the improved amenities for passengers. Since it costs more to the Railways to run Vande Bharat trains, the fare has been fixed accordingly.

According to the recent data, the occupancy rate of recently launched Vande Bharat Express on four new routes were not very encouraging.

Five Vande Bharat trains were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27 June for Ranchi-Patna, Bhopal-Indore, Bhopal-Jabalpur, Bangalore-Dharwar, Goa-Mumbai routes.

Barring Ranchi-Patna, ticket bookings on all four Vande Bharat Express with eight-coach each are showing much below the expectation.

However, Vande Bharat trains in some sections are running hosuefull since launching of the service. For example, Kasaragod-Trivandrum route service has shown highest occupancy rate among all Vande Bharat Express trains till date.

Mumbai-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express, Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express, Delhi-Dehradun Vande Bharat Express and Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express are also showing excellent results with more than 100 per cent bookings on their forward and return journey.

The Ranchi-Patna Vande Bharat train has shown houseful from day one, with over 100 per cent occupancy on both routes.