Indian Railways Will Now Charge You More For Lower Berths!
It is a part of the recommendations made by the Railway Board in order to increase revenues.
A high level ‘Fare Review Committee’ under Railway Board has recommended a slew of measures, aimed at increasing revenues for the Indian Rail.
Prominent among them is the recommendation to charge extra money for the lower berth in trains!
Besides, as per a press notification, Indian Rail has announced that they will now deploy drones to monitor tracks and to carry on rescue operations.
Pay More For Lower Berth, Convenient Timings!
This is something which airlines all over the world have perfected: Charge extra money for more comfort and more luxury. For instance, if you want aisle seat, extra legroom and front row seats, then you can pay extra and get that.
The same would be now implemented in trains if the recommendations of the Fare Review Committee are approved.
As per the recommendations to increase revenues, the committee has suggested charging extra money for a lower berth, and increased fare in the festive season, as part of the dynamic pricing model.
Besides, if the train arrives at ‘convenient time’ such as at night 4 AM, then the charge can be extra, and if the train arrives at an inconvenient time, such as 2 AM, then there can be a discount as well. As per some reports, there will be two slots of timing: Train arriving and departing between 0000 and 0400 hours and 1300 and 1700 hours, and dynamic pricing model shall be executed for that.
Drones For Monitoring Tracks
Meanwhile, it is now official: Indian Railways will adopt technology and would deploy highly sophisticated drones to monitor tracks and to carry out rescue operations in times of distress.
The press release said,
“Indian Railways has decided to deploy “Drone” cameras (UAV/NETRA) for various railway activities especially project monitoring and maintenance of tracks and other railway infrastructure.”
The first such drone would be deployed by West Central Railways, whose headquarters are at Jabalpur. As per Indian Railways, drones fitted with high-resolution cameras have had a trial run on these three routes:
- Jabalpur Division – Narmada Bridge near Bhitoni
- Bhopal Division – (i) Nishatpura Yard; (ii) Third Line work between HBJ – Misrod.
- Kota Division – (i) Chambal Bridge near Kota; (ii) Dakania Talav Yard near Kota.
Railways is undergoing maintenance work in these three routes, and drones were deployed to monitor the work.
Besides monitoring and rescue work, Indian Railways also plans to use drones ‘to assess preparedness of Non-Interlocking (NI) works, crowd management during fairs and melas, to identify scrap and also for aerial survey of station yards’.
