Good News: Railways to run special trains for Diwali, Chhath Puja, details inside

Indian Railways has decided to run special trains for passengers on occassions of Diwali and Chhath Puja. Railways' Northern railways will run a weekly train between Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Manduwadih. The train will run every Wednesday on Novermber 7, 14 and 21 from Lokmanya Tilak terminus. 

The train will leave the station at 12:45 and will have in total 19 coaches. 

Earlier, In a Diwali gift to passengers, the railways scrapped flexi-fare in 15 premium trains in which the occupancy is less than 50% throughout the year, while the scheme will be discontinued in 32 other trains during lean periods when occupancy dips to 50-75%.

The step comes in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in July that had flagged the dipping occupancy level since the scheme was introduced in September 2016 and had recommended rationalisation of flexi-fare. Sources in the railways also said that while the national transporter will incur losses of around Rs 103 crore due the changes brought into the scheme, it hopes to recover not just the losses but also generate additional revenue by increasing occupancy through the reduced fares. The sources said that a 15-% jump in occupancy of the 15 trains in which flexi-fare is being scrapped will compensate for an estimated loss of around Rs 22.41 crore because of the changes.

An increase of 30% occupancy in the 32 trains where the scheme is being discontinued during lean periods (February, March and August) will lead to recovery of losses of an estimated Rs 40 crore, the sources said. Any further increase in occupancy will lead to additional revenue, they said. The railways has also reduced flexi-fares from 1.5 to 1.4 times the base ticket fare in 101 trains, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had said. 

Doing this will lead to a loss of Rs 40 crore for the national transporter, the sources said. "The plan is that rationalising fares would lead to increase in occupancy which in turn would ultimately lead to increase in revenue," a source said. Some trains in which the scheme will be discontinued because of low occupancy include Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi, Chennai-Madurai Duronto, Guwahati-Dibrugarh Shatabdi, New Delhi-Bhatinda Shatabdi.