Railways restores fare for AC 3-tier economy class; refund to be given to THESE passengers

The Indian Railways has restored the fare for AC 3-tier economy class, five months after it was merged with the normal three-tier. The railways had introduced the 3E as a class in September 2021 - but in this category, linen was not provided. At the time of its launch, the national carrier had said the fares in these coaches would be 6-8 per cent less than normal AC 3 coaches. However, in November last year, the railways merged the 3E with the AC 3-tier.
 
Today, the railways issued an order to restore the fare for AC 3-tier economy class. Despite the restoration in price, the railways will continue offering linen to passengers. The present order has withdrawn the earlier circular in which the fare for an AC 3-tier economy class ticket had been made equal to the fare of an AC 3-tier ticket, according to the news agency PTI.

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The report said the reason for the merger was stated to be the cost of linen which was initially not provided in the economy air-conditioned class. Now, passengers who have booked tickets online and over the counter will be given a refund of the extra amount for the pre-booked tickets.
 
Before November 2022, passengers could book AC 3 economy tickets under a separate category of "3E" in specific trains where railways offered such seats.

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Currently, there are 463 AC 3 Economy coaches compared to 11,277 normal AC 3 coaches, officials told PTI. AC 3 economy coaches have better facilities for passengers than normal AC 3 coaches, they said. With the merger of AC 3-tier economy, the officials said, passengers had to pay around Rs 60-70 additionally.

While a normal AC 3-tier coach has 72 berths, AC 3-tier economy has 80. Railways earned Rs 231 crore from the AC 3-tier economy class in the first year of its introduction. According to data, from April-August, 2022, 15 lakh people travelled in these coaches, generating earnings of Rs 177 crore.

The restoration of fare of the 3-tier economy comes just weeks after a parliamentary standing committee recommended the resumption of the fare concession offered to senior citizens before the pandemic. The railways used to offer a 40 per cent discount in fares to males above 60 years and 50 per cent for females above 58 years.

These concessions were granted in fares of all classes of Mail/Express/Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/Duranto group of trains but were withdrawn on March 20, 2020.

(With inputs from PTI)