Flexi-fare scheme discontinued for premium Humsafar trains

New Delhi: In a big relief to passengers, railways has removed the flexi-fare scheme from its premium Humsafar trains and has also decided to introduce sleeper class coaches, a senior official said Friday.

The relief will be applicable to 35 pairs of Humsafar trains, which currently have only AC 3-tier classes, the official said.

The tatkal ticket fares of the Humsafar trains have also been decreased. They will now cost 1.3 times of the base fare, instead of 1.5 times, the official said.

Flexi-fare is a form of surge pricing where ticket prices are increased during periods of high demand and vice versa.

The railways had introduced the idea of flexi-fare scheme in 2016 for the 142 "premium trains" such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto and Humsafar Express.

Under this dynamic pricing system, the base fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, with a limit set at 1.5 times the original price.

The railways also announced that tickets under current booking after the first charting shall be sold with 10 per cent discount on the applicable basic fare and other supplementary charges like all other trains.

The relief will be effective from advance reservation period after making required changes in the passenger reservation system, it said.

The ministry so said that four sleeper class coaches have already been attached in the Anand Vihar-Allahabad Humsafar Express on Friday.