Flexi fare pricing on 'experimental basis', says Railway official
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is touring UP, targeted the Narendra Modi government over the issue.
New Delhi: The knives are out as the Opposition smelt blood over the issue of “surge pricing” in premium trains, with the Congress claiming that the government was busy providing sops to its “industry friends”, and leaving the common man to fend for himself. Most of the Opposition parties demanded that the government immediately “rollback” the new inflated rates to be introduced from Friday.
Given the widespread criticism, the Railways appeared to be on the backfoot on Thursday, saying the move to introduce dynamic surge pricing on premier trains had been done on an “experimental” basis, and would be reviewed “after some time”.
Railway Board chairman A.K. Mital said: “We have introduced the dynamic fare system on an experimental basis. We will review it after some time and see what necessary measures can be taken further.”
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is touring UP, targeted the Narendra Modi government over the issue. “The speed of trains may increase or not, but Modiji has put fares on the fast track. Modiji’s model is to loot from the common man and give relief to some of his industrialist friends.”