Piyush Goyal: No airline-like dynamic pricing in Railways
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has scrapped a suggestion by a committee to introduce airline-like dynamic fares for all mail express trains. The Committee, which was set up in December last year to review the flexi-fare scheme in the Railways, has been asked to go back to the drawing board and prepare a fresh report. Here are more details on what went down.
The Committee has some high-profile names
The Committee consists of some Railway Board officials, NITI Aayog adviser Ravinder Goyal, Executive Director (Revenue Management) of Air India Meenakshi Malik, professor S Sriram, and Iti Mani, Director, Revenue, Le Meridien, Delhi.
Details of the Committee's suggestions
Like airline pricing, the Committee had suggested introducing dynamism in railway ticket prices based on factors like time taken to reach destination, travel during festive seasons, train chosen, choice of berths etc. However, Goyal wasn't satisfied with the proposals owing to the performance of the flexi-fare scheme in its current form which has resulted in increase in both the number of passengers and revenue generated.
What is the flexi-fare system?
The flexi-fare system for Railways came into existence in 2016 and has led to a 50% increase in fares. Under the system, fares increase from 10% to 50% with every 10% of available berths booked. It applies to the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto express trains.
Data shows that flexi-fare scheme has worked well
In 2015-16, before the flexi-fare scheme was introduced, 138.7 lakh tickets were booked, and the Railways had earned Rs. 1,931.6 crore. In 2016-17, 137.39 lakh tickets were booked, but the Railways' earnings went up to Rs. 2,192.24 crore. The flexi-fare scheme was introduced in September 2016. 2017-18, till February 2018, saw 140.88 lakh tickets sold, and the Railways' earnings rose to Rs. 2,296.75 crore.
