Railways to introduce surge pricing; First Class AC, Executive Class excluded

Prices will rise 10% for every 10% of tickets sold - so as fewer seats are left available, passengers will pay more.

New Delhi:

In what might come as a shock to some commuters, Indian Railways is all set to introduce surge pricing for train tickets.

According to a report, prices will rise 10% for every 10% of tickets sold - so as fewer seats are left available, passengers will pay more.

The new rules will apply to high-speed, high-in-demand trains like Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi.

The Railway Ministry has labelled it the ‘flexi-fare system’ and said it would not apply to fares for its top tier AC first class and Executive Class seats.

If at any time, the price of a lower class seat becomes higher than a seat in the upper class, the passenger will be informed so that he can upgrade his class if he so wishes.

Seats unsold at the time when reservation charts are prepared, will be offered for current booking and would be sold at the price that the last seat in that class was sold, said the report.

The new system will become applicable from Friday, September 9.

But passengers who have already booked tickets at old rates will not have to pay more even if they are traveling after September 9, said the report.

Until now, surge pricing was a policy implemented only by private taxi operators like Uber. The Delhi government had banned surge pricing by private cabs in the city state earlier this year.