House panel recommends partial refund for RAC berths:Calls for revising ‘superfast’ tag for trains running at 55 kmph

The parliamentary committee on Tuesday recommended that it is not right to charge the full fare from passengers for railway tickets booked under the RAC category. The committee suggested to the Ministry of Railways that it should frame rules to partially refund the fare to such passengers. Currently, the Railways charges full fare from passengers for booking berths in trains under the RAC category; these passengers share the same berth and also pay full fare for the same seat without getting an individual seat for themselves. The committee also made a recommendation for changing the categorisation of superfast trains. The committee said that the current benchmark of superfast trains travelling at 55 kmph/hr is very low. The committee stated that there has been no change in the rules for the categorisation of superfast trains since 2007. Report presented in Parliament These statements were made by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) in its report titled ‘Punctuality and Travel Time in Train Operations in Indian Railways’, which it presented in Parliament on Wednesday, said that charging full fare for tickets under RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) is not right. In this, even after the chart is prepared, the ticket holder has to remain in the RAC category without the facility of a berth. The committee urged the Railways to partially refund the fare to such passengers and inform it about the steps taken in this regard. Suggestion to change rules for Superfast category The committee called for attention to the need to review the rules for superfast trains in Indian Railways. The committee stated that in May 2007, the Railways decided that if the average speed of a train in both up and down directions is a minimum of 55 kmph on broad gauge and 45 kmph on meter gauge, it would be considered a Superfast (SF) train. The committee said that the audit found that the benchmark of 55 kmph to categorize a train as superfast is itself low. The committee said, there has been no change in the criteria for classification of SF trains since 2007. Along with this, out of 478 superfast trains, the prescribed speed of 123 superfast trains is less than 55 kmph. Ministry said – Speed decreases due to providing stoppages In its reply, the ministry informed the committee that an examination of the list of 123 trains categorized as superfast revealed that according to existing data, 47 trains have a speed of more than 55 kmph. As for the remaining trains running at a speed of less than 55 kmph, the ministry said that providing additional stoppages after the commencement of regular operations has affected the average speed of some trains. The committee said – This was done only to collect more fare The report states, the committee is compelled to conclude that the purpose of designating trains as superfast was to collect higher fares. Whenever the speed of trains decreased, Indian Railways should have removed the train from the superfast category and revised the fare. What else did the committee say What are Broad Gauge and Meter Gauge? Gauge refers to the distance between railway tracks. If the distance between the tracks is 1.676 meters, it is called Broad Gauge. This is the most commonly used gauge in India. Almost all Express, Superfast, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Vande Bharat trains run on this. On the other hand, in Meter Gauge, the distance between the tracks is 1 meter. Previously, it was mostly used on hilly and smaller routes. Trains on this gauge run at a slower speed and have a lower weight capacity. 22 MPs in PAC Committee The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has a total of 22 members. It includes 15 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha. The chairman is chosen by the Lok Sabha Speaker, who by tradition is the leader of the opposition. The committee has 13 members from BJP-NDA. This committee scrutinizes the central government’s expenditures.