June 26, 2025 - In order to boost the revenue of Indian Railways, the Ministry of Railways is planning a marginal hike in fares across AC classes, sleeper class and second class on long-distance routes. The increase will come into effect from July 1, 2025.

The hike will not be applicable on passengers using suburban trains and monthly season passes thus sparing lakhs of travellers who commute by local trains on a daily basis. There will be no fare hike for ordinary second class tickets up to 500 kms.

“However, a hike is being considered for train tickets in Ordinary Second Class for a journey distance exceeding 500 km, at the rate of half a paise per km,” official sources added. 

This is the first fare revision since 2020 and comes on the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Railways in December 2024.

According to official railway sources, the passenger fare hike will be as follows:

• AC Classes: Increase of 2 paise per kilometre
• Sleeper Class (Mail/Express): Increase of 1 paise per kilometre
• Second Class (General): Increase of 0.5 paise per kilometre (only for journeys over 500 km)

The Standing Committee urged the Ministry to align fare prices with the operational costs (particularly in AC classes). As per the Ministry of Railways data, suburban trains recover only 30 percent of their costs, non-AC travel covers 39 percent while AC travel provides just a 3.5 percent surplus.

Data shows that 715 crore passengers travelled by train between April 2024 to March 2025. This includes 81 crore passengers who travelled in AC and sleeper class and 634 crore who were unreserved class passengers. Railways earned Rs 75, 750 crore from passenger revenue in the financial year 2024-25. It expects to earn Rs 92,800 crore in FY2025-26. With the fare hike in place, an additional Rs 700 crore could be generated during the remaining months of this financial year.

According to sources, this marginal hike will not impact passengers majorly and will go a long way in improving the infrastructure and quality of services provided by Indian Railways.

With Media Inputs