In a bid to boost sales and meet challenges posed by roadways and low-cost airlines, the Indian Railways has decided to offer up to 25 per cent discount in trains like Shatabdi Express, Tejas, Gatiman and Vande Bharat Express. The discount will be applicable in all trains with AC chair car and executive chair car. It will be given on the base fare and charges like GST, reservation fee, superfast tariff and others will be levied separately. "Trains with monthly occupancy of less than 50 per cent in the previous year are eligible for the discount," a railway ministry official said. The discount can be offered yearly, half-yearly, seasonally or during weekends. Layng the dising guidelines for availicount, the ministry said, once the scheme is in place, no other discounts such as the graded discount in Shatabdi Express trains or flexi-fare will be applicable. The railway ministry has decided to delegate powers to the Principal Commercial Managers of the zones to introduce the discounted fare scheme in the identified trains. The railways had introduced a similar scheme while removing dynamic pricing from certain trains with low occupancy. It had discontinued the flexi-fare scheme in 15 trains in which average uni-directional monthly occupancy was less than 50 per cent.
