Railways Does not Consider Fares as a Trade Secret; Any Changes in Passenger Fare Rationalisation, Revisions, etc. Undertaken From Time to Time are Widely Published: Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
Railways Does not Consider Fares as a Trade Secret; Any Changes in Passenger Fare Rationalisation, Revisions, etc. Undertaken From Time to Time are Widely Published: Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
Ministry of Railway does not consider ticket fare as a “trade secret”. The information related to fares for all categories of Passenger Services is a widely published information available in the public domain.
Indian Railways gave subsidy of Rs. 60,239 crore on passenger tickets in 2024-25. This amounts to concession of 43% on an average, to every person, travelling on Railways. In other words, if the cost of providing service is Rs. 100, then the price of ticket is Rs. 57 only. This subsidy is continuing for all passengers. Further, concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories like 4 categories of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjans), 11 categories of patients and 8 categories of students.
To ensure utmost transparency, details of various components of passenger fares (Base fare, Reservation charge, Superfast charge, GST, etc.) are displayed on passenger tickets, published as fare tables in physical and digital form, available / displayed on computerized ticketing systems (Passenger Reservation System, Unreserved Ticketing System), mobile applications (RailOne), etc.
Further, information related to any change in the passenger fares rationalisation, revisions, etc., undertaken from time to time is also widely published. Indian Railways as a public owned enterprise is fully accountable to the people and to the Parliament for delivery of services in a financially sustainable manner. Passenger fares are determined taking into consideration cost of service, competition from other modes of transportation, affordability, etc.
Indian Railways continuously strive to provide various facilities for the convenience of passengers including Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities. Some of the facilities extended to Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities are as under:
i. Allotment of lower berths to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), senior citizens, female passengers of 45 years and above automatically, even if no choice is given, subject to availability.
ii. Earmarking of a combined quota of six to seven lower berths per coach in Sleeper class, four to five lower berths per coach each in Air Conditioned 3 tier (3AC) and three to four lower berths per coach in Air Conditioned 2 tier (2AC) classes (depending on the number of coaches of that class in the train) for senior citizens, female passengers 45 years of age and above and pregnant women.
iii. Earmarking of reservation quota for Person with Disabilities and their attendants in mail/express trains including Rajdhani/Shatabdi type trains as under:-
iv. Allotment of lower berths falling vacant in the train to senior citizens, Persons with Disabilities or pregnant women (who have been allotted middle/upper berth) on priority.
The first Vande Bharat Sleeper service viz. 27575/27576 Howrah- Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express has been introduced w.e.f. 22.01.2026. The proliferation of new train services, including Vande Bharat sleeper services, is an on-going process, depends on various factors which include-
To improve travel experience of the passengers, Vande Bharat Sleeper have been provided with modern coaches having advanced safety features and passenger amenities like Jerk-Free semi permanent couplers, KAVACH, higher acceleration, improved fire safety standards, sealed gangways, CCTVs in all coaches, emergency talk-back unit centralized coach monitoring system, etc.
The fare structure of Vande Bharat Sleeper train are based on per passenger- per kilometer rate, i.e for 3rd Air-conditioned Class (3AC) is ₹2.40 excluding GST. The indicative fares for a distance of 1000 km excluding GST are ₹2400 for 3 AC.
Vande Bharat Sleeper train is a different category of passenger service with an all inclusive fare and this train has no provision of RAC tickets. Passengers in waiting list get confirmation when confirmed passengers cancel tickets. Therefore services are accessible to passengers.
Railways always strive to provide affordable services to all strata of society. Accordingly, it operates different categories of train services to cater to the travel needs of various categories of society which include trains with lower fare to give benefit to underprivileged section of the society and also trains with enhanced facilities.
The fares of Indian Railways are among the lowest in comparison to other countries in the world. The fare of Vande Bharat Sleeper ranges between ₹2.40 to ₹3.80 per PKM which is much lower than the fares of similar segment of services in countries like China, Japan and France, where it ranges from ₹7.00 to ₹20.00 per PKM.
This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a reply to questions in Lok Sabha today.