Railways earned Rs 403 crore from tatkal ticket charges, Rs 119 crore additional from premium tatkal tickets and Rs 511 crore from ‘dynamic’ fares during 2020-21, while most of its operations remained suspended for most of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. This information has been received from the Right to Information (RTI) reply. The ‘Dynamic’ fare system in Railways is the system in which the fare is fixed according to the demand.
This fare system is applicable in trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains. These three categories of passengers are usually last minute travellers who avail these services by paying premium charges.
In response to an RTI filed by Chandrashekhar Gaur, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, the Railways said that it has collected Rs 240 crore from ‘dynamic’ fares, Rs 353 crore from Tatkal tickets and Rs 89 crore from premium Tatkal charges in the financial year 2021-22 till September.
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In the financial year 2019-20, when there were no restrictions on train operations, the Railways earned Rs 1,313 crore from ‘dynamic’ fares, Rs 1,669 crore from Tatkal tickets and Rs 603 crore from premium Tatkal tickets.
This figure of the Ministry of Railways comes a month after the comments of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways. The committee, in its remarks, had observed that the charges levied on Tatkal tickets are somewhat unreasonable and impose a huge burden especially on those passengers who are financially weak and are forced to travel Tatkal to meet their relatives. The Committee desired that the Ministry should take measures to have a proportionate fare for the distance traveled.
Northern Railway has earned Rs 402.51 crore, making a record in the sale of scrap. This is 93.40 per cent higher than the sales of Rs 208.12 crore earned in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Thus, Northern Railway has topped among all Zonal Railways and Production Units crossing the scrap sales figures of Rs.200 crores in September 2021, Rs.300 crores in October 2021 and Rs.400 crores in December 2021.
Northern Railway has also achieved the scrap sales target of Rs 370 crore given by the Railway Board in November 2021. Northern Railway is at the forefront as compared to other Zonal Railways and Production Units. Scrap, PSC sleepers, which are accumulated in large quantities with Northern Railway, are being disposed off so as to generate revenue as well as free up railway land for rail activities.
