Indian Railways is all set to shut down the budget-friendly Garib Rath started in 2005. The government is going to replace the economical Garib Rath with Humsafar Express from September 29. With this latest changes now the passengers will have to pay more. The Indian Railways board took this decision to shut Garib Rath on August 30.
“Northern and Southern railways will suspend booking of Garib Rath Express trains with effect from September 29 and shall define Humsafar Express train on the notified Humsafar fare structure,” said the order.
The ticket charges for the Hamsafar Express will be quite expensive when compared to Garib Rath. The Garib Rath’s tickets charged less than the usual AC3 tier rents whereas, Humsafar Express will have higher rate compared to usual AC3 tier charges. Humsafar Express is Indian Railways premium service and the rent is 1.15 per cent excessive, that is, if the usual AC3 tickets fare is Rs 100. The the Humsafar Express fare will be Rs 115.
On an addition, the Humsafar Express will have flexi Fair systems. So only the bookings upto 50 per cent will be available at the reasonable price. After 50 per cent every 10 per cent booking becomes expensive by 10 per cent. The fare of Humsafar begins at Rs 2,200. The passengers travelling from Chennai to New Delhi will have to pay a hefty amount to travel in Humsafar Express.
The first train to be closed from September 29 is Chennai-Hazrat Nizamuddin Garib Rath Express. The usual train fare for AC3 coaches in this route begins from Rs 2050, whereas, Garib Rath tickets was of Rs 1380 and was the fastest running train on this route after Rajdhani Express. Now the fares of Humsafar Express in this route will be around Rs 1000 to 2000 higher.
However, this premium train comes with additional facilities including, coffee and soup vending machine in each coach, LED displays and public announcement systems.
