New Delhi: In a bid to improve the occupancy in premium trains, Indian Railways announced a slew of changes in Humsafar Express train, which is a host of premium features for the passengers.
Humsafar Express first service was inaugurated on 16th December 2016 between Gorakhpur and Anand Vihar Railway station.
The train was entirely made up of AC 3-tier coaches and provided premium facilities to the passengers. However, train failed to impress the mass, due to various reasons.
Therefore, the Railway Ministry has announced certain changes in Humsafar Express:
- The Railways have decided to introduce sleeper class coaches in Humsafar Express in addition to existing AC 3-tier coaches. This decision was taken by the Zonal Railways as per the requirement of sleeper class coaches. Currently, 4 sleeper class coaches has been attached in Anand Vigar-Allahabad Humsafar Express.
- The base fare of the Humsafar trains has been changed to 1.5 times of the base fare of Mail/Express trains instead of 'Superfast' Mail/Express trains, which will bring down the base fare of Humsafar Express.
- Railways have decided to remove the flexi-fare scheme for Humsafar Express which means that it will only have a fixed rate system.
- The Tatkal ticket charges have been reduced to 1.3 times of the base fare from its existing cost of 1.5 times of Humsafar base fare. This means that Tatkal fare for this train will be equivalent to the normal Tatkal rule of other Mail/Express trains.
- The other charges including reservation fee, superfast surcharge and GST will be levied separately.
This relief comes weeks after the national transporter announced to offer a concession of up to 25 percent on certain trains with AC chair car and Executive class sitting including Shatabdi, Gatimaan, Tejas, Double Decker and Intercity Express.
