12087 SHATABDI EXP

In order to transform Trade and Tourism in North East region through Rail connectivity and to promote cultural heritage of the Northeast; two more Vistadome train services were flagged off o­n 19^th December, 2021. The Vistadome train services between Guwahati - Naharlagun and Naharlagun – Tinsukia were flagged off by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma at Guwahati Railway Station, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Pema Khandu at Naharlagun station and Smt. Darshana Jardosh, Hon’ble Minister of State of Railways & Textiles at Guwahati Railway Station. Both the locations were connected via video link. At Guwahati, Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Industries & Commerce, Govt. of Assam; Shri Bimal Bora, Hon’ble Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Cultural Affairs, Power and Tourism, Govt. of Assam, Smt. Queen Oja, Hon’ble MP (Lok Sabha) and Shri Anshul Gupta, General Manager of N. F. Railway were present. At Naharlagun station, Hon’ble MP (Rajya Sabha) Shri Nabam Rebia and Hon’ble MLA Shri Techi Kaso were also present. Moreover, existing Vistadome service between Guwahati and New Haflong have been decided to extend up to Badarpur to fulfil the demand of tourists.

The Vistadome coaches are equipped with state of the art glass windows and all glass roofs for providing view of the open sky, mountains, tunnels, bridges, hills, tea gardens and lush green forests to the tourists. It will also have observation lounges for the purpose of site seeing. The rotational seats of the coach are designed to provide added comfort to passengers. Coaches are also provided with digital entertainment system and Wi-Fi facilities. Tourist can enjoy the entire travel by enjoying infotainments like movies, music videos etc. Wi-Fi based passenger information system is also provided. For safety of passenger, CCTV cameras and Fire Alarm System are also installed.

The regular services of Train No. 12087/12088 Naharlagun – Guwahati – Naharlagun Shatabdi Express with Vistadome coach resumed w.e.f. 20-12-2021. The train runs three days a week leaving from Naharlagun o­n every Monday, Tuesday and Friday and from Guwahati o­n every Monday, Thursday and Sunday. The train departs from Naharlagun at 06-45 hours to reach Guwahati at 12-30 hours and from Guwahati at 13-45 hours to reach Naharlagun at 19-45 hours. The train covers a distance of 343 Kms and have stoppages at Harmuti, Viswanath Charali, Rangapara North, New Misamari, Udalguri, Tangla and Rangiya stations.

           The regular services of 15907/15908 Tinsukia – Naharlagun – Tinsukia Vistadome Express resumed w.e.f. 21-12-2021. The train runs five days a week leaving from Tinsukia o­n every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and leaving from Naharlagun o­n every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The train departs from Tinsukia at 16-00 hours to reach Naharlagun at 21-45 hours and from Naharlagun at 05-30 hours to reach Tinsukia at 10-40 hours. The train covers a distance of 225 Kms and have stoppages at New Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Dhemaji, Bordoloni, Gogamukh, Boginadi, North Lakhimpur and Harmuti stations.

           The existing services of Train No. 15888/15887 Guwahati – New Haflong – Guwahati have been extended to run up to Badarpur w.e.f. 22-12-2021. The Train No. 15888/15887 Guwahati – Badarpur – Guwahati departs from Guwahati at 06-45 hours to reach Badarpur at 14-20 hours and from Badarpur at 15-15 hours to reach Guwahati at 22-45 hours. The train covers a distance of 341 Kms and have stoppages at Maibong, New Haflong and Jatinga Lumpur stations.

   Guwahati – Naharlagun route is surrounded by the tea gardens and tourists can enjoy the scenic beauty of Himalayan range in north and green covers of tea gardens o­n either side of the track. Vistadome services from Naharlagun will provide breath-taking views of Brahmaputra River, the tea gardens, rain forests along the track and views of mountains of Himalayan range. The route also covers historic cities of Assam. Tourism sectors of this area will reap the benefits from these new services.

Review of Flexi Fare scheme done based o­n the recommendation of the Review committee, Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, and representations from passengers

Flexi Fare completely removed from 15 trains

Flexi Fare removed from 32 trains during lean period (February, March and August)

Graded Discount upto 20% o­n last fare to be given (class wise) in case of class occupancy being less than 60%

Highest slab reduced from 1.5 times to 1.4 times

Flexi Fare Scheme was launched with effect from 9th September, 2016. The scheme generated high revenue however initially there was a drop of passengers which picked up later o­n. Further, to rationalise the fares an 8 member committee was formed to review the scheme and make it more passenger friendly. The review of the scheme has been done based o­n the recommendation of the committee, Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, and representations from passengers. The Railways has reviewed Flexi Fare Scheme and introduced following changes:

●Discontinuation of Flexi-fare in trains with average monthly occupancy less than 50% throughout the previous year. (List of 15 Trains given in Annexure A)

●Discontinuation of Flexi-fare, in lean period of 3 months, in trains with average monthly occupancy between 50-75% throughout the previous year. (List of 32 Trains given in Annexure B)

●Maximum current cap of 1.5 times to be reduced to 1.4 times in all classes

●To increase the occupancy of less patronised classes (2A, 3A, CC etc.), Graded discount of 20% o­n last fare o­n all trains with Flexi Fare and Humsafar Trains where occupancy of a particular class is less than 60% (4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train). Further, 10% discount will be offered as per the table given below:

Upto -70% occupancy:20% o­n last fare

70-80%occupancy:10% o­n last fare

Above 80%occupancy:Nil

●Changes shall be implemented from Advance Reservation Period (ARP) i.e. 4 months after making necessary changes in Passenger Reservation System, o­n an experimental basis for six months to be further extended after assessing its outcome

Annexure A

List of trains with occupancy less than 50% (2017-18) from which Flexi Fare will be removed in 2018-19

Annexure B

List of trains with occupancy between 50%-75% (2017-18) from which Flexi Fare will be removed in lean period of 2018-19