You might have to rethink before you set out for your train journey over the weekend. Wondering why? This is because the Indian Railways is conducting trials to regularise dynamic fare of Suvidha trains.
A sequential number is given to the trains that convey the transformation of regular services into that schedule services during festivals and weekends.
The initiative came when the railways found that people were ready to pay more whenever they were travelling on weekends or during festivals by special trains (Suvidha trains).
A series of Suvidha trains have been introduced including Tirunelveli Chennai service that has the prefix ‘82’ to the train number. Also, all special trains have ‘0′ as the prefix to the train number. While other zones are yet to schedule Suvidha trains, Central Railways has already started running scheduled Suvidha trains once in two weeks, and the fares for these trains vary between Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000.
As per a senior railway official, “The change in train numbers is the first step. It shows that there is a move to run these trains as scheduled services as weekly trains or bi-weekly trains and also during festivals. The services are also being considered as forerunners of the premium category of trains like Tejas, Humsafar, Antyodaya and Deen Dayalu Express which will have high-end coaches”.
The Ministry of Railways had announced 17 premium trains including Chennai Kamakhya via Malda and Thiruvananthapuram-Yesvantpur via Erode in its budget (Feb 2014). It is learnt that the trains may be promoted as premium services for future use.
Since good bookings have been received for the Chennai-Ernakulam Suvidha special train, the railways have extended it’s run for a weekend more.
