Rajdhani flexi-fare scheme is a big hit

In earnings terms, it means a neat jump of 18.3 per cent over last year.

Traditionally, the monsoon season is a period of low passenger traffic for the railways.

In the budget this year, a flexi-fare scheme -- 10 per cent rebate on fare for AC 1 and AC 2 travel on all Rajdhanis -- was announced for the period 15 July-15 September.

During the first month of its operation, it has led to a nearly 25 per cent surge in traffic on all Rajdhani trains.

The revenue earnings have shot up by 15 per cent which compares quite favourably with the year-on-year average growth of 10.76 per cent for all trains for the past six years.

As can be seen from the table, travel on AC 1 for most sectors is several notches dearer than the super apex fare scheme of the domestic airlines.

This does not seem to matter, especially on the Delhi-Mumbai sector. The capacity utilisation of AC 1 and AC 2 seats on Rajdhani trains for this sector has risen by 13 per cent and 21.5 per cent respectively for the period under consideration.

The occupancy of AC 1 seats for the Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani for the same period was 100 per cent, compared to 40 per cent last year.

Here also, one needs to keep in mind that the train fare is much more than what a flight from Kolkata to Delhi under the super apex scheme would have cost.

"We are very pleased with the results for the first month. Railways are gearing up to pose greater challenges to the airlines,' a senior official said. He added that next year a similar scheme could be introduced for other long-distance trains.