No Surcharges on Superfast Trains, if it comes late

New Delhi, July 24: The Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of India was directed to North Central Railway (NCR) and South Central Railway (SCR) to levied the Rs 11.17 crore from 'superfast' surcharges on Passengers. However, few of the superfast trains were delayed 95 percent of the times.

Trains traveling at a speed of 55 kmph and above are categorized as super fast trains. A study further has revealed that 21 of the superfast trains in NCR and SCR were delayed for 3,000 days out of the 16,804 days they ran in 2013-16 as they weren't able to keep their top speed.

Agra Divisional Commercial Manager Sanchit Tyagi told the media that currently, passengers do not get a refund if a superfast train is late. Only when the passenger files a ticket deposit against reservation (TDR) on the train being late by more than 3 hours does he become eligible for a refund.

'Superfast' surcharges depend on the train coaches. A seat in the general coach is charged at Rs 15, Rs 30 for a sleeper, Rs 45 for AC (chair car, AC-3 economy, AC-3, AC-2 classes) and Rs 75 for AC First/Executive class.

Sanchit said that there are many reasons for the delays in 'superfast' trains. "Some of the prominent factors are the maintenance of tracks, signal glitches, emergency brakes and accidents."

According to the study, Kolkata-Agra Cantt Superfast was late 138 days out of 145, Chhatrapati Shivaji- Hyderabad Superfast was late for 682 days out of 1,055.