Railway Ministry has Hicked rental Five years later AC, sleeper and other classes. The new fare will be applicable from July 1.
It has kept suburban fares and monthly seasonal fares equal.
According to the circular of a ministry released on Monday, the AC class (first class, 2-level, 3-tier, and chair car) has increased by two Paisa per km. For non-AC classes in mail and express trains (sleeper class, second class (general) and first class), the fare hike is one per km per km.
Simply put, a passenger traveling 1,000 km in any AC category will have to pay 20 rupees. For those traveling in sleepers or general coaches of any mail or express train, additional fare will be Rs 10.
For second class or general class in ordinary trains, no fare up to 500 km increases. After that, the fare for the distance between 501 km to 1,500 km has increased by Rs 5, Rs 10 for the distance between 1,501 km and 2,500 km and Rs 15 for the distance between 2,501 km to 3,000 km.
The ministry said that the revised fares will not affect those who have already booked tickets for the journey after 1 July at earlier rates.
“However, any new tickets made by ticket checking staff at trains/stations on 01.07.2025 or then at stations will be applied at the revised rate,” said the notification.
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Additional fees such as reservation fee and superfast surcharge have been left untouched.
Passengers are going by the launch of the kilometer railway, the increase starting from July 1 can generate an additional revenue of more than Rs 1,100 crore for the remaining period of the current financial year (2025-26). For a full financial year, the additional revenue generated would have been more than Rs 1,450 crore.
According to the Railways, on the expectation of an increase in passenger number, the total estimated revenue from the passenger segment for FY 26 is Rs 92,800 crore. In FY25, when more than 736 crore people traveled by trains, the total passenger revenue was Rs 75,215 crore.
The final amendment in passenger fares was in January 2020, when the ministry increased the fare of non-AC classes in mail and express trains by two Paisa per km and four PAISA per km by AC sections. A Paisa was an increase in ordinary non-AC classes per kilometer.
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Railway gives heavy subsidy to passenger services. According to a report by the Parliamentary Committee, suburban services recover about 30 percent of their cost and non-AC services recover 39 percent. The AC journey produces a marginal surplus of 3.5 percent.
Railway produces about 65% of its total revenue from transportation of goods. Passenger section contributes about 30 percent. The rest is from various sources.
In the passenger segment, premium AC classes-like AC First Class, AC 2-Tier, AC 3-Tier and AC Chair Car-Kul passenger contribute about 54 percent of the passenger revenue. But in terms of the number of passengers, the AC class is only 4.8 percent of the total, while sleepers and general classes are about 37 percent simultaneously. Suburban trains have 57 percent passengers.
In December 2024, the Standing Committee on Railways recommended the Indian Railways to review revenue from AC classes and aligned it with aligning costs to reduce the loss in the overall passenger segment.
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