Railways will offer up to 25 per cent discount in trains like Shatabdi Express, Tejas and Gatiman Express which have low occupancy.
The discount will be applicable in all trains with AC chair car and executive chair car, except the Chennai Central-Mysuru Shatabdi Express, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shatabdi Express, and the New Jalpaiguri-Howrah Shatabdi Express in which existing discount schemes will be continued.
The discount will be given on the base fare and charges like GST, reservation fee, superfast tariff and others will be levied separately. A railway Board order said, trains with monthly occupancy of less than 50 per cent in the previous year are eligible for the discount.
The railway ministry has decided to delegate powers to the Principal Commercial Managers of the zones to introduce the discounted fare scheme in the identified trains. However, it has laid down certain guidelines.
The discount can be offered yearly, half-yearly, seasonally or during weekends. Once the scheme is in place, no other discounts such as the graded discount in Shatabdi Express trains or flexi-fare will be applicable.
The zones have been asked to identify such trains with low occupancy by 30th of next month. The circular said, efforts should be made by the zones to ramp up occupancy. The zones have also been asked to file a report after four months of implementing the scheme.
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