Comments
Even as the Railway Ministry has said restoring concession to passengers including senior citizens is not desirable given its financial health, it continues to allow complimentary travel to spouses and companions of Railway officials in luxury trains.
“As per Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986, Railway officials are allowed to travel over Indian Railways on official duty along with family. On the similar lines, these officials are allowed to travel in these tourist trains on official duty with family member,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Lok Sabha on July 27.
The luxury trains including Palace on Wheels, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels (which was discontinued in 2014), Deccan Odyssey, Maharaja’s Express and Golden Chariot are operated by State Tourism Development Corporations and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.
Complimentary travel
Responding to an unstarred question by Lok Sabha MP AKP Chinraj on complimentary travel in luxury trains, Vaishnaw said two berths per trip in these trains may be utilised for complimentary travel by the authorised officials of Indian Railways for the purpose of inspection and feedback from the tourists.
In all, 93 inspection reports have been submitted for these luxury trains since 2014.
“Similarly, a complimentary travel quota of two berths per trip, subject to availability of seats after giving preference to paid passengers on commercial trips, is permitted to the respective State Tourism Development Corporations and IRCTC,” he said.
Further, 24 berths per season for international press media groups are decided in mutual consultation between IR and the respective State Tourism Development Corporations.
“Complimentary travel is permissible subject to availability of seats after giving preference to paid passengers on commercial trips,” he noted.
According to its website, the tariff for Palace on Wheels for Indian Nationals can range from ₹69,350 Per Person Per Night ₹1,13,880 Per Cabin Per Night depending on the occupancy type in the peak season between September 2022 and April 2023.
Similarly, the tariff for Deccan Odyssey for 2023-24 starts at ₹5.12 lakh for single occupancy in a deluxe cabin and can be as high as ₹11.09 lakh for single occupancy in a presidential cabin. The tariff is per cabin per journey of seven nights and eight days.
In response to another question, the Minister had said that the government gave subsidy of ₹59,837 crore on passenger tickets in 2019-20.
“This amounts to concession of 53 per cent on an average, to every person, travelling on Railways,” had said in reply to an unstarred question by Lok Sabha Members Deepak (Dev) Adhikari and LS Tejasvi Surya.
“This subsidy is continuing for all passengers,” Vaishnaw said, adding that further concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories including Divyangjans, students and patients
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.