Charging full fare for tickets booked under the RAC Ticket category, where the ticket holder must travel without a full berth, is not justified, according to a parliamentary committee. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that “charging full fare for tickets under RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation), where the ticket holder remains in the RAC category after chart preparation without a berth facility, is not justified.”
The committee show that the railway ministry should create a way to refund partial fare to travelers who not get a full berth but had to pay full charges when boarding.
Committee urge railways to partially refund RAC Ticket
Currently, the railways charge full fare from a passenger to book a berth in trains under the RAC category. However, the passenger may stay in the RAC category and share the berth with another RAC passenger. Both passengers pay the full fare. The committee urged the railways to refund the partial fare to these passengers and inform them of the steps taken.
Panel also spoke about the train speed
Discussing the need to review the criteria for Superfast trains in Indian Railways, the committee noted that in May 2007, the railways decided that if the average speed of a train, in both directions, is at least 55 kmph on broad gauge and 45 kmph on metre gauge, it would be classified as a Superfast (SF) train.
The audit found that the benchmark of 55 kmph for classifying a train as Superfast is low. “There has been no change in the criteria for classifying SF trains since 2007,” the committee said. It also pointed out that out of 478 Superfast trains, 123 have scheduled speeds of less than 55 kmph.
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