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Showing posts with label Cheaper Train Fare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheaper Train Fare. Show all posts

Friday, 9 June 2017

11:58

Train Fare Reduced for Shatabdi on Short Distance Routes

Train Fare Reduced for Shatabdi on Short Distance Routes

Indian Railways to reduce fares for Shatabdi trains on short distance routes
The move is taken to counter bus service which had reduced fares on the same route and people opting for the latter.
New Delhi, June 7: In a good news for passengers, the Indian Railways is set to reduce the fares for short distance travels in Shatabdi trains across the country following a successful experiment in two such trains. According to the railways, passenger movement between non-terminating and non-originating railway stations on the route of Shatabdi trains were low and the passengers were opting for air-conditioned bus services in these sections because of its low fare.
“Between Ajmer and Jaipur, and two stations between Chennai and Bengaluru, we saw that AC buses were charging around Rs 430 and Shatabdi fare was around Rs 470. As a consequence, the patronage on these short-lead travels was around 30 per cent. So we decided to reduce the rates to Rs 350 and now the patronage has reached almost 100 per cent,” said Mohammed Jamshed, member (traffic), Railway Board, the Indian Express reported.
Jamshed added that railways now plans to introduce the system across all Shatabdi trains.
Shatabdi is a superfast express train category which connects major Indian cities.
Railways also saw a 1 per cent increase in passenger in 2016-17 to 822.1 crore passengers from 815.1 crore transported during 2015-16 because of the slew of measures and introduction of new categories of trains such as Humsafar and adding 43,420 berths in 2016-17. Railways ran 31,438 trips of special trains as well.

Source:India.com
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Monday, 13 June 2016

15:25

Dynamic Fare may derail Railways as it soars close to airfare

Dynamic Fare may derail Railways as it soars close to airfare 

Mumbai: Dynamic pricing on Suvidha Special trains has proved counterproductive for the Railways as most trains are running below potential, especially the two-tier air-conditioned coaches, due to the higher tariff.

Suvidha Special trains have a minimum fare equivalent to tatkal fares which increase after every 20% of seats/berths in a train are booked, subject to a maximum of three times the tatkal fare.

So, in this dynamic pricing, fares keep on increasing as per demand and vacancy. The initial 20% of seats are sold at the base fare plus tatkal charges. For the next 20%, fare is 1.5 times the base fare plus tatkal. Fare for last 20% is thrice the base fare plus tatkal.

A senior railway official said, “For 2A, the demand is pretty poor as the fare is sometimes higher than airfare.”

A review of two trains was conducted by Central Railway to assess the demand. It was seen that overall occupancy for 04419 LTT-Nizamuddin was 40% but for 2A it was 28%and for 3A it was a good 45%.

For LTT- Mandaudih, the occupancy for 2A was 32% as against 44% for 3A. The overall occupancy was 43%.

The official said that 3A class is a money-spinner although the occupancy is not excellent. For LTT-Nizamuddin and LTT-Mandaudih, the earnings for 3A were 70%.

The official added that on June 10, a Mumbai-Delhi flight ticket in economy class was available from Rs 3,806 for June 15. On the other hand, 2A ticket for the same date in 04419 LTT-Nizamuddin was available at Rs 3636.

A senior railway official said, “How can we expect a passenger to pay the fare equivalent to airfare for train journey?” There are five 2A coaches in LTT-Nizamuddin. CR has now asked the board to allot 3A coaches instead as demand is very poor for 2A.

For 01087 LTT-Manduadih Suvidha special on June 17, the ticket prices for 2A as quoted at Rs3,216 on June 10. Manduadih is the terminal station for Varanasi, the air-fare was Rs 4,800 for the same day flight.

An official said, “The Suvidha train dynamic fare concept is good for 3A but for 2A it is expensive because fares are high.”

Source:RailNews
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Sunday, 23 August 2015

10:41

Cost over-runs could make Hyderabad Metro unviable, while Fare Hike has its Limitations

Cost over-runs could make Hyderabad Metro unviable, while Fare Hike has its Limitations

Hyderabad: Challenges posed by an urban environment are no excuse for getting stuck during project execution — this seems to have been the guiding principle for L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited (LTMRHL), which has in three years never faced a work stoppage on the 72-km three-corridor metro rail project in spite of recurring problems on the ground as well as at the government level.

Cost overruns could make the entire project unviable while increase in fares to make up the difference has its limitations as was evident by public protest against a Rs 100 fare for a one-way ride on the Mumbai metro. “We did not stop work. That was the basic direction of our execution strategy. We opened multiple fronts and if we had come across a roadblock at one place we resumed work on other front,” LTMRHL chief executive V B Gadgil told.

The state government had set July 2017 as the dead-line for completion of the Rs 14,700 crore project in five years. The appointed date was fixed as July 5, 2012 after taking into account the initial hiccups. The concession period is for 35 years with an entitlement to extend it for further 25 years.

Now this dead-line is an impossible task for the company as it would take at least 30 months to build the three 2-level interchange stations that link the three metro corridors at Ameerpet, MG Bus Station and the Parade Grounds, in addition to other issues ” It is in our interest to complete the project early as we are the concessionaire of the project, but this is something which is not entirely in our hands” he said.

The company had spent more than Rs 7,000 crore while accomplishing about 55 per cent of the work on all the three corridors by following the ‘no stopping of work’ strategy. Delays are manageable as long as the work is progressing. The second important strategy that worked well for the project was the adoption of precasting mode to the maximum possible extent. In fact, the overhead metro stations are being completely built with precast structures.

Next year the citizens of Hyderabad are likely to start riding Metro Rails in a limited distance. The company hopes to begin commercial operations on a 10 km stretch between Miyapur and Ameerpet of the most viable corridor and as well as the least viable 7 km long Nagole-Mettuguda stretch by March-April, 2016.

These two stretches were chosen together as opposed to the original idea of operationalising the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch in 2015 itself, only for the sake of operational viability from the start, according to the metro rail company chief executive.

For instance, the rider ship on Chennai Metro was yet to achieve critical mass and a similar situation would end up in serving the tourist interest by Hyderabad Metro. Which means the company has to bear higher operational costs compared to passenger revenues.

Coinciding with this initial phase, the L&T Metro is planning to complete around 1.3 million sft of transit oriented commercial space, including malls, at Erramanjil, Hitech City and Ameerpet.

While it took 11 years for completion of the first 7 kms of Mumbai Metro and 5 years for Delhi Metro, it was no mean achievement if the Hyderabad Metro developers will be able to operationalise close to 20 kms in over 3 years against all odds, the government officials say.

The Metro Rail execution was a difficult task as two projects-construction of metro rail and road expansion in metro rail routes as it is being built in the middle of the existing road- were happening simultaneously. Shifting the utilities including sewer and water pipelines, demolition of structures coming in way of the project were some of the other big problems the company faced on an ongoing basis.

Three rail over bridges (ROBs) near Secunderabad railway station, three alignment changes proposed by the Telangana government, the right of way and other issues that still exist in at least 10 km stretch are the other major issues still to be sorted out. The work got stuck at the Assembly complex, Sultan Bazar and on the entire stretch of MG Bustation-Falaknuma due to the alignment changes proposed by the government. This would involve another 10 kms of distance.

” We had given reports to the government explaining the pros and cons including the consequences pertaining to the changes three months ago. The authorities are yet to tell us what we should do,” Gadgil said. Hyderabad Metrorail Limited, the state government’s nodal agency, recently said the government is willing consider bearing the additional costs arising out of these changes.

On the whole things have changed considerably over the past three months with the chief secretary reviewing the problems on ground every Tuesday resulting in better coordination and cooperation from the government agencies, according to Gadgil.

There is a larger contentious issue that requires to be resolved at some point between the two parties of this PPP project was the claim of the cost escalation to the extent of around Rs 3,000 crore due to delays in facilitation by the government agencies. ” It is in that range and an independent assessment of the same has to be made to arrive at an ultimate figure,” he said.

The company has asked the government to take responsibility for the cost escalation while the government was yet to respond as it has to first constitute a committee to look into these claims.

“The criticality at this point of time is to get the matters of alignment and other field level issues sorted out to quickly start work on the remaining stretches. Other issues come later ,” says L&T MRHL chief.

Except for the cost overruns, the project is perfectly viable and even the fares will be lower compared to all other metros as the concessionaire here is dealing with a much larger size of a metro unlike in other cities, according to him.
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Thursday, 12 February 2015

07:38

Cheaper than train..! SpiceJet offers tickets starting at Rs 599

Cheaper than train..! SpiceJet offers tickets starting at Rs 599

SpiceJet brings to you the 'cheaper-than-train-fares' sale. Now fly domestic at fares starting only Rs.599 all-in, and international at fares starting only Rs. 3499 all-in. Book your tickets till 23:59hrs 13th February 2015 for travel between 1st July and 24th October 2015. So it's time to bid farewell to the long train journeys and enjoy our convenient flights to your favourite destinations. Book now!

Terms and Conditions:



Fares displayed above are one-way starting all-inclusive fares

Fares vary from sector to sector depending on the travel distance

The Sale is applicable for bookings made between 11th February - 13th February 2015 (both dates included) for travel between 01st July - 24th October 2015 (both dates included)

The Sale is valid only for travel on Direct & Onward connections in our network

Select international sectors feature in this Sale with starting fare in INR currency

Limited seats available on First-Come-First-Served basis

The Sale is only applicable on bookings made on www.spicejet.com, online travel portals and through travel agents only; and is not available at SpiceJet's Sales and Reservation Centre and at our Airport Ticketing Offices.

The Sale is not applicable on group bookings and infants

The fares are non-refundable and non-changeable

Flight schedules and timings are subject to regulatory approvals and change(s)

SpiceJet reserves the right to modify, alter, amend or change any or all of the terms and conditions made applicable to this Sale at any time without prior notice.

For detailed terms and conditions, log on www.spicejet.com
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