Railways mulls dynamic pricing for Mumbai-Goa’s luxury Tejas Express

Train’s occupancy has slipped below 40%, prompting authorities to consider steps to attract more commuters

Railway authorities are mulling a dynamic fare structure for Indian Railways’ first luxury train – Tejas Express – that runs between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai and Karmali in Goa.

The railway authorities are mulling a dynamic fare structure for Indian Railways’ first luxury train – Tejas Express. (HT File)

In this system of pricing, the fare varies with growing demand. After its introduction in May 2017, the train soon became popular among travellers. However, currently, its occupancy has slipped below 40%, prompting the railway authorities to consider steps for attracting commuters.

Tejas Express, considered as the Railways’ first “ultra-luxury” train, has features such as automatic doors, personalised infotainment system, panoramic windows, reclining chairs and air-conditioning in all the coaches. Sanjay Gupta, chairman and managing director of Konkan Railway (KR), said, “The Railway Board is mulling the introduction of dynamic fare for Tejas Express to improve the occupancy.”

To travel by Tejas, passengers have to pay Rs1,560 for chair car and Rs3,025 for the executive car, including meals. According to KR officials, the fare for lower class journey on Tejas Express is almost double of that of other trains on that route. Therefore, passengers prefer to travel by other trains. “With dynamic fare, passengers booking tickets early will get tickets at a lesser cost as prices will go on increasing with the booking of a certain percentage of tickets,” said a KR official.