After a passenger fare hike, Railways plans occupancy-based discount

Occupancy-based discount is an effort to augment revenue by increasing number of passengers during lean periods

After opting for a passenger fare hike starting New Year, Indian Railways is planning to come out with an occupancy-based discount system for passengers across mail, express, superfast, and premium trains. The discounts would be available on trains where occupancy rate is low.

This is seen as an effort to augment revenue by increasing the number of passengers during lean periods, on non-remunerative routes with a stiff competition from roads and some long-run trains having larger running time with more stoppages. 

“We are working on a slab-based discount model, which will be applicable on all trains where occupancy is an issue,” confirmed