Passengers on Bengaluru-Mangaluru-Goa VB Express pay nearly ₹200 extra fare compared to same distance on other VB services

The base fare on Yeshwantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express between Yeshwantpur and Madgaon could be around ₹1,369 in Chair Car and ₹2,795 in Executive Chair Car classes.

Patrons travelling the Yeshwantpur-Madgaon-Yeshwantpur Vande Bharat Express (Train No. 26655/656) from November 15 will pay nearly ₹200 extra fare in chair car (CC) and about ₹300 extra on executive chair car (EC) when compared to the same distance travelled on other Vande Bharat services.

The actual base fare, for example, between Yeshwantpur and Madgaon in CC would be around ₹1,186 and in EC, around ₹2,444. However, the actual distance of 670 km gets inflated to around 844 km increasing the base fare to ₹1,369 in CC (₹183 extra) and ₹2,795 (₹351 extra) in EC classes. The base fare excludes reservation charges of ₹40 and ₹60, superfast charges of ₹45 and ₹75, respectively, for these classes and 5% GST on all these charges. If the passenger opts for onboard food, catering charges ranging from ₹300 to ₹600, would be extra.

For Karwar, the likely base fare could be ₹1,292 as against the actual ₹1,100 in CC (₹192 extra) and ₹2,642 as against ₹2,253 in EC class; for Udupi, it could be ₹931 as against ₹809 (₹122 extra) in CC and ₹1,890 as against ₹1,651 (₹239 extra) in EC and for Mangaluru Junction, the base fare could be ₹809 as against the actual ₹721 (₹88 extra) in CC and ₹1,561 as against the actual ₹1,468 (₹93 extra) in EC class.

Normal fares are collected on other VB expresses operating in Karnataka for almost similar distances. For example, the base fares on Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Central VB Express have been ₹1,131 and ₹2,295 for CC and EC respectively for 620 km distance; KSR Bengaluru-Ernakulam Junction VB Express at ₹1,159 and ₹2,352 for 625 km; KSR Bengaluru-Belagavi VB Express at ₹1,132 and ₹2,295 for 612 km and on Yeshwantpur-Kacheguda VB, the base fares have been ₹1,113 and ₹2,267 for CC and EC respectively.

The extra fare becomes applicable as the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd., (KRCL) on whose network half of the route passes through, inflates the distance by 40% to calculate passenger fares and by 50% for freight charges. KRCL network begins from Thokur near Mangaluru and extends till Roha in Maharashtra surpassing Madgaon. Thus, about 300 km distance between Thokur and Madgaon gets inflated to 416 km.

At the same time, the South Western Railway (SWR) inflates the 55 km distance on the Ghat section between Sakleshpur and Subrahmanya Road by 100%, making the chargeable distance to 110 km. Thus, the end-to-end inflated chargeable distance becomes about 844 km against the actual 670 km distance.

The SWR justified the inflated distance saying the Indian Railways follows the practice on almost all Ghat routes because of the challenges in operating through difficult terrains. KRCL was initially allowed to inflate the distance to recover the construction cost of about ₹3,555 crore. The Corporation now justifies the additional collection due to “heavy maintenance cost (due to difficult geographical conditions).”

transport / prices / economy (general) / railway