Rail fare hike: Small step for railways, big burden for the middle class

While suburban and short-distance commuters get relief, the hike in AC and premium trains adds to the middle class’s travel woes, even as safety and service standards remain under scrutiny.;

Update: 2025-07-04 05:34 GMT
Rail fare hike: Small step for railways, big burden for the middle class

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At long last, the Indian Railways has hiked the passenger fares of its trains. The last fare hike exercise was undertaken way back in 2020. The new fares are likely to hit the commuters marginally. The hike was on the cards following the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Railways in December 2024.

The Committee had directed the Railways to align fare prices, especially in AC classes, with operational costs. Railway statistics show that suburban trains recover only 30 percent of their costs, while non-AC travel covers 39 percent, even as AC travel provides just a 3.5 percent surplus.

The hike is aimed at boosting passenger revenue, which contributes nearly 30% of its total earnings.

The new fares, which have come into effect from July 1, 2025, will apply to AC class, Sleeper Class (Mail/Express) and Second Class (General). Premium trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Vande Bharat, Duronto, Tejas, etc., will see a hike in fares, even as relief has been given to suburban trains and season ticket holders.

Folks going for short trips up to 500 km have also been exempted from the hike in fares. In a positive, the Railways has also assured that there would be no revision in reservation fees, superfast surcharges, or GST rules.

With an eye on the volatile security situation on the country's borders, changes have been effected in the Tatkal bookings, with only passengers with completed Aadhaar verification eligible to book Tatkal tickets through the IRCTC website or mobile app.

Steps aimed at modernising the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December this year will enable the new PRS to book over 1.5 lakh tickets per minute, which is five times that of 32,000 tickets per minute in the current PRS. While the Railways have claimed that the latest hike in fares has been the lowest in recent years, it has to be admitted that the hike has added to the economic woes of the middle class, who can neither afford air travel nor opt to travel by the ordinary trains. As it is, fares on the premium trains were on the higher side compared with even luxury AC buses.

With air travel in India facing an uncertain situation following the 20 June Air India Boeing Dreamliner crash, many passengers in recent days have opted for the relative safety of train travel. It is not that train travel in India can boast of a high standard of passenger safety. Com-plaints of uncleaned toilets, dirty linen and unswept floors still hog day-to-day train travel and merit the attention of the railway authorities.

As per reports, Indian Railways carried 715 crore passengers during the financial year April 2024-March 2025, earning Rs 75,750 crore during this period.

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