Encouraged by the success of the recently
introduced premier AC superfast special train to Mumbai with dynamic
fares, Railways today said such service could be introduced in 17 other
busy routes. "We have identified 17 sectors where we could introduce
such special service.... These are the routes where there is a constant
demand with high waiting list," Railway Board Chairman Arundendra Kumar
said. While he refrained from giving further details, sources said some
of these routes could be the Delhi-Bangalore, Delhi-Kochi,
Delhi-Howrah, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Howrah-Chennai and Chennai-Coimbatore.
While the premier superfast to Mumbai -- having Rajdhani like facility
including catering-- is a complete AC train, Kumar however, said in some
of the other sectors, the rake composition could be a mix of AC and non
AC coaches. The premier superfast was introduced on December 24
between New Delhi and Mumbai where fares came at a premium as the
dynamic fare mechanism was introduced in the passenger service for the
first time. Railways has made windfall gains with the introduction of
the train, which saw up to a 30 per cent jump in fares in AC-2 and 35
per cent in AC-3. An AC-2 tier fare fetched Rs 3232 per ticket, an
increase of Rs 737 from the base price of Rs 2495. Similarly the AC-3
ticket was Rs 2442, a rise of Rs 627 from the base price of Rs 1815.
The success of the service prompted railways to extend the running days
of the train by another three trips. Dynamic fares have been introduced
for the first time by Railways to shore up its finances from passenger
segment and woo more and more passengers from airlines by providing
better facilities and services. Railways has vouched for punctuality of
the special train which has no stoppages in the route.
Congress leader Manishankar Aiyar attracted opposition BJP's ire today in Rajya Sabha when he said he was not interested in listening to speech of a BJP member on vote on account, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House amid uproar. During the Zero Hour, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien allowed Aiyar, who wanted to ask a question, to do so, which was opposed by BJP members. Kurien asked Aiyar whether he yielded to allow others to speak, to which he said he had no objection and he can ask his question later. As the House got ready to initiate discussion on Vote on Account, Kurien said, "Let us reduce the discussion to two hours from four hours," which was opposed by BJP members including Piyush Goyal who was given a chance to speak on Vote on Account. When it was agreed that discussion will take place as per schedule, Aiyar remarked he was not interested in listening to the speech by BJP member. "You had given me the chance to ask a question
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