Title - Pay more for rail travel from April 1

Train travel is set to cost more from April 1, when the revised tatkal and reservation charges announced in the Railway Budget take effect.

According to the latest notification, the tatkal charges will be realised at a rate of 10 per cent of the basic fare for reserved second class and 30 per cent of the basic fare for all other classes subject to minimum and maximum ranges. For sleeper class, the minimum and maximum charges will be Rs 90 and Rs 175. While for AC chair car it will be Rs100 and Rs 200; AC 3 tier Rs 250 and Rs 350; AC 2 tier and Executive class Rs 300 and Rs 400.

Similarly, the reservation fee and the supplementary charge for superfast trains and withdrawal of the enhanced reservation fee will also be enforced from April 1. This will apply to tickets issued on and after April 1.

Under the revised reservation fee, the charge would Rs 60 up from the existing Rs 35 for the Executive and AC first Class; for AC 2 tier and first class the new rate would be Rs 50, instead of the existing Rs 25; it will be Rs 40 for AC 3 tier, AC 3 economy and AC chair car instead of the current Rs 25. There will not be any changes for the sleeper and the second class, the ministry statement said.

The revised supplementary charge for superfast trains will be:  Executive and AC first will be Rs 75; AC chair, AC 3 first class, AC 2 tier, Rs 45; sleeper Rs 30 and second Rs 15. This increase in supplementary charges, reservation fee, clerkage charges, cancellation charges and tatkal charges, would together increase the revenue earnings by Rs 483 crore for the Railway Ministry.

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal at the time of making these announcement had tried to counter the criticism saying these were being done to counter touts, and the money would be used to offer for passenger amenities.