How are fares of trains decided? Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw replies in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the fares of various trains and their classes are based on the facilities provided in them and various types of train services are offered for different types of passenger segments.

The minister informed this in a written reply to questions in Lok Sabha regarding the high fares of Vande Bharat trains.

Rakibul Hussain, a Congress member from Dhubri in Assam, wanted to know whether the government has considered reducing the fares of the Vande Bharat Express to make this premium train service more affordable for a larger section of the population, particularly for the lower-income groups.

Responding to the question, Vaishnaw said the Indian Railways fixes the fares with due consideration of the cost of service, the value of service, expenses the passengers can bear, competition from other competing modes, socio-economic considerations and the likes.

"The fares of various trains/classes are based on the facilities provided in these trains. Indian Railways (IR) run various types of train services for different types of passenger segments. Evaluation and rationalization of passenger fares, including those of Vande Bharat trains, is a continuous and on-going process," Vaishnaw said.

"Recently IR have introduced Amrit Bharat services, which are fully non-AC trains, presently comprising 12 Sleeper Class Coaches and 8 General Class coaches providing high quality services to larger section of the population, particularly lower income groups," he further said.

According to the railway minister, Amrit Bharat trains have modern state-of-the-art technology, equipped with advanced features like semi-permanent couplers for jerk-free travel, horizontal sliding windows, foldable snack tables and bottle holders, mobile holders and the likes.