Understanding our Indian Railways

Coming straight to the point as Indian Railways don’t need any background, Indian Railways Pricing structure though not very transparent (because of the lack of information) is quiet easy to understand (analytically).
The various trains are divided into the following categories for pricing –

1. Passenger trains
2. Express trains
3. Super fast trains
4. Rajdhani
5. Shatabdi / Janshatabdi

Further these trains will have different coaches of different classes out of the following nine –

1. 1A = First Class air-conditioned (AC1)
2. 2A = 2 Tier air-conditioned (AC2)
3. 3A = 3 Tier air-conditioned (AC3)
4. FC = First Class NOT air-conditioned
5. EC = Executive chair class, air-conditioned (Available only on Shatabdi Expresses)
6. CC = Chair class, air-conditioned
7. SL = Sleeper Class, NOT air-conditioned
8. 2S = Bookable second class seat, NOT air-conditioned
9. II = Unreserved 2nd class, NOT air-conditioned

Now the charges for a railway ticket which one has to pay are divided into following headings -

1. Base fare – Based upon the category of train and the class, a constant factor has been decided which when multiplied with the distance to be traveled gives the base fare. Furthermore, the constant changes if the travel is above 1000Kms for the same category of the train in the same class.
2. Reservation charge – They are levieied on every reservation made, however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the reservation charge included in their fares. Logically I think that reservation charges are to cover the infrastructure cost of getting a ticket i.e. manpower, stationary and other resources.
3. Supplementary charge = Super Fast (SF) charge - SF charge is added to all trains that average more than 55 km per hour over the whole of their journey, (any Mail or Express train whose train number begins with a 2), however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the SF charge included in their fares.
4. Safety surcharge – They are levied on every ticket (including Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains), though the cost will not be shown on the ticket (the reservation and SF charges are), Actual distance rather than chargeable distance is used to work out if your journey is above 500 km.
5. Tatkal Charges – These charges have been included under a Tatkal scheme especially designed for an unpredictable travel plan.The booking under this scheme opens 5 days prior to the trains departure. Further more details on this scheme can be got over here.

These charges discussed above are levied if one purchases the ticket from the reservation counters of the Indian Railways. Four years back they came up with the online Reservation system and thus a few additional charges were born alongwith (to the consumer's plight) –

1. Internet Service charge – Rs 20 for sleeper and lower class while Rs 40 for upper classes per ticket. This seems to be the charges for their infrastructure for facilitating the online transaction.
2. Courier Charges – These charges are levied on only i-tickets and not e-tickets against the courier of the booked tickets. Normally it’s Rs.20 per ticket and is included within the Internet Service Charges.
3. Transaction Charges – Depending upon the mode of payment (Debit Card / Credit Card) and the Bank through which the payment is being done, the customer pays a transaction charge per ticket to the Bank. Either it is some %age of amount being transacted or a fixed amount per ticket.

Example – For a ticket in an express train (A.P. Express) from Hyderabad to New Delhi, the charges I had to pay for an I-ticket are as following –
Base Fare – 1220
Reservation Charges – 25
Super fast Charges – 30
Internet Service Charges – 40
Courier Charges – 20
Transaction Charges (ICICI Bank Debit Card) – 11

Total = Rs. 1346

Manish Saini