Wednesday, October 16, 2019

First pvt. train violates Railway tariff law
IRCTC can’t fix its own fare, say officials


14/10/2019 , S. Vijay Kumar, CHENNAI

The country’s first private train has contravened the Railways Act, 1989, since the Central government is the competent authority to decide on tariff and not the IRCTC, say top railway officials.

The much-publicised train service flagged off on the Lucknow-Delhi-Lucknow route earlier this month, charges a higher fare than the existing Shatabdi Express and other trains on the same route.

The issue is being closely watched in the context of the move to run 150 more trains in private mode.

The Indian Railways had entrusted IRCTC, its commercial tourism and catering arm, with the task of operating two premium trains using the fully air-conditioned rakes of the semi-high speed Tejas Express. The second private train will soon be run on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Mumbai sector.

While the first corporate-run train has received good feedback from passengers. who compared its amenities and on-board service favourably with global standards, senior railway officials say the tariff fixed is apparently in violation of the Railways Act. The fares are higher and there is hardly any change in the running time. Railway officials say the IRCTC is not empowered to fix the tariff.

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