Railway Ministry notifies fare hike; new ticket prices come into effect today

The Railway Ministry on Thursday officially notified a hike in train ticket prices by 1 paise per km for ordinary class beyond a journey of 215 km, and 2 paise per km for non-AC classes of mail/express trains and AC classes of all trains.

On December 21, the ministry announced its decision to increase the passenger fares from December 26. This is the second time in a year that the ministry has revised passenger train fares. The earlier fare hike was implemented in July.

Justifying its decision, the ministry stated that the rationalising of fares has "the objective of balancing affordability for passengers and sustainability of operations".

"Under the revised fare structure, there is no change in fares for suburban services and season tickets, including both suburban and non-suburban routes. For ordinary non-AC (non-suburban) services, fares have been rationalised in a graded manner across second class ordinary, sleeper class ordinary, and first class ordinary," the ministry said in a statement.

It added, "In second class ordinary, there is no increase in fare for journeys up to 215 km, ensuring that short-distance and daily commuters are not impacted. For distances from 216 km to 750 km, the fare increases by Rs 5.

For longer journeys, the increase is applied in steps -- Rs 10 for distances between 751 km and 1250 km, Rs 15 for distances between 1251 km and 1750 km, and Rs 20 for distances between 1751 km and 2250 km."

According to the ministry, fares for sleeper class ordinary and first class ordinary have been revised uniformly at the rate of 1 paise per kilometre for non-suburban journeys, ensuring a gradual and limited increase in ticket prices.

It stated that in mail/express trains, the fare increase has been rationalised at 2 paise per kilometre across non-AC and AC classes.

"This includes sleeper class, first class, AC chair car, AC 3-tier, AC 2-tier, and AC first class. As an illustration, for a 500 km journey in non-AC mail/express coaches, passengers will pay only about Rs 10 extra," the statement said.

The official notification said that the existing basic fares of major train services, including Tejas Rajdhani, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Humsafar, Amrit Bharat, Tejas, Mahamana, Gatimaan, Antyodaya, Garib Rath, Jan Shatabdi, Yuva Express, Namo Bharat Rapid Rail, and ordinary non-suburban services (excluding AC MEMU/DEMU, where applicable), have been revised in line with the approved class-wise basic fare increases.

"The revised fares are applicable only on tickets booked on or after 26 December, 2025. Tickets booked prior to this date will not attract any additional charges, even if the journey is undertaken after the effective date," it added.

The fare list displayed at stations will also be updated to reflect the new fares effective from December 26.

The ministry maintained that Indian Railways remains committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable travel to millions of passengers every day.

The revised fare structure reflects a balanced approach that safeguards passenger convenience while maintaining operational sustainability, it said.