Railways expected to reduce Vande Bharat fares, low occupancy recorded in some trains

The Indian Railways are reevaluating the fares of certain Vande Bharat trains operating on short-distance routes and experiencing low occupancy. According to the review conducted by the Railways, the objective of potentially decreasing the fare of the trains is to ensure that larger number of people can utilise the train service by making it more affordable, news agency PTI reported. 

"While most of the Vande Bharat trains are running at 100 per cent occupancy, a handful are not and we are making the changes needed to ensure they do," said a senior official of the Indian Railways. 

"The idea is to ensure that all the Vande Bharat trains work towards ensuring passenger convenience. We have reviewed the situation and we believe that some of the Vande Bharat trains, specially of shorter durations between two to around five hours will do much better if their prices are decreased. We want more and more people to use these trains”, they further added. 

The report mentions trains such as the Indore-Bhopal, Bhopal-Jabalpur, and Nagpur-Bilaspur express, among others, falling into this category. 

According to the end of June data sourced by PTI, the Bhopal-Jabalpur Vande Bharat service had an occupancy rate of 29 per cent, while the Indore-Bhopal Vande Bharat Express experienced even lower occupancy at 21 per cent. Currently, the journey on these trains costs Rs 950 for an AC Chair car ticket and Rs 1,525 for an Executive Chair Car ticket.

The Nagpur-Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express is also being considered for fare review, as it currently maintains an average occupancy of approximately 55 per cent. With a travel duration of approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes, there is a general belief that reducing the ticket prices could significantly enhance its performance. 

The Executive Class ticket for the Nagpur-Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express is currently priced at Rs 2,045, while the Chair Car ticket costs Rs 1,075. In May, this train was replaced by the Tejas Express due to its low occupancy levels.

Similarly, the Bhopal-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express has recorded a 32 percent occupancy rate, while the return journey on the Jabalpur-Bhopal Vande Bharat service has shown a slightly higher occupancy of 36 percent. Consequently, a reduction in fares for these trains is anticipated.

The 4.5-hour journey between the two cities costs Rs 1055 for AC chair from Bhopal to Jabalpur while an Executive chair car ticket will cost Rs 1880. On its return journey, the fare for an AC chair is Rs 955, while an Executive chair car ticket costs Rs 1790.

The Vande Bharat trains with top occupancy include the Kasaragod to Trivandrum train is the best-performing Vande Bharat Express (183 per cent), Trivandrum to Kasaragod Vande Bharat train (176 per cent), the Gandhinagar-Mumbai Central Vande Bharat Express (134 per cent), Mumbai Central-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Express (129 per cent), and many more. 

Barring a handful of such low occupancy trains, most of the services of this semi-high-speed train currently is running with full occupancy. 

46 Vande Bharat Express services have reached all rail-electrified states of the country so far.

(With Inputs from PTI)

Also Read: Karnataka: Stones pelted at Bengaluru-Dharwad Vande Bharat Express