Railways hopes to rake in Rs 500 crore this fiscal on flexi fare

Indian Railways hopes to earn Rs 500 crore in revenue from the introduction of flexi fare or Ola-, Uber-esque surge pricing, in the current fiscal. 

The Indian Railways decided to introduce flexi fares on premium trains like the Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Shatabdi, and more, but quickly said that the move was done on an experimental basis. 

"We have introduced the dynamic fare system on an experimental basis. We will review it after some time and see what necessary measures can be taken further," Chairman Railway Board (CRB) A K Mital said, according to a PTI report. 

The fares would be hiked on 81 trains in the country. 

Passengers travelling by the aforementioned trains will now have to shell out between 10 to 50% under a dynamic surge pricing mechanism put into place from September 9. 

Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohd Jamshed said that the railways currently loses Rs 33,000 crore in the passenger segment as we charge 36 paisa per kilometre of travel, the PTI report noted. 

This year, for the Railways, the passenger revenue target is Rs 51,000 crore compared to Rs 45,000 crore.