The Ministry of Railways on Thursday rejected reports of charging extra fares from passengers. In a press statement, the ministry termed the claims "misleading" and "not based on all the facts".
"Festival/Holiday special trains were started as per the long-standing practice to clear the rush. Festivals have been continuing and even today the harvest festival is being celebrated. This year there has been pent up demand in many sectors on which the festival trains were running. These festival trains have been continued to clear the rush. The fare for such trains has been kept a little higher since 2015. NOTHING NEW is being done this year. This is an established practice," the Railways Ministry clarified.
It said that passenger operations have always been subsidized by railways. "Railways bears loss for travel by passenger. Railways have been running trains in covid times in the most challenging circumstances. Running in low occupancy in many sections and still operating in public welfare."
"Not only this, Railways has taken special care about the travel by those traveling by lowest fare in trains so that even in Covid times they bear the least burden. In all the trains that are being run, besides other classes, the trains have a large number of 2S class coaches which has the lowest fare in the reserved category. 40 % of the passengers have traveled in 2S class in much better traveling conditions than pre covid, unreserved traveling situations. As per the policy, 2S passengers, even in special fare cases are NOT charged more than additional Rs 15," the ministry said.
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