traveling by train becomes expensive

Train Ticket Price Increase: If you are planning to travel by train, then this news is very important for you. Indian Railways has announced changes in passenger fares, which will become effective from 26 December 2025. However, Railways has called it 'fare rationalization' instead of 'fare increase'. The good news is that daily commuters and those traveling short distances will not suffer any loss from this change, but long distance travel is now going to be a bit expensive.

Which passengers will have to empty their pockets?

Railways has clarified that this increase will mainly apply to long distance journeys. According to the new rules, if you travel more than 215 kilometers in Ordinary Class, you will have to pay an extra 1 paise per kilometer. At the same time, if you are traveling in non-AC class of mail or express trains, then this increase will be 2 paise per kilometer. The fare for passengers traveling in AC class has also been increased by 2 paise per kilometre.

It will be easy to understand this with an example. Suppose you travel 500 kilometers in a non-AC coach. According to the new rules, your ticket price will increase by only Rs 10. This amount may sound small, but when lakhs of passengers travel, it makes a big contribution to the railway treasury. Railways hope that with this small change they will earn additional income of about Rs 600 crore this year.

Relief for daily passengers and short distance travelers

Railways has made it clear that the fares of suburban trains and monthly season tickets (MST) have not been increased even by one rupee. Apart from this, there will be no impact of this increase on passengers traveling up to 215 kilometers in ordinary class. This means that the budget of the common man who depends on trains for short journeys will not be affected.

After all, why did the Railways have to increase the fare?

The biggest reason behind increasing the fare is the increasing expenses of the Railways. In the last decade, Railways has significantly expanded its network and operations, due to which there has been a huge increase in manpower i.e. the number of employees and the expenditure incurred on them.

If we look at the figures, the manpower expenditure of Railways has increased to Rs 1,15,000 crore. At the same time, the pension burden has also reached Rs 60,000 crore. If we talk about the total cost of operation of railways in 2024-25, it has crossed Rs 2,63,000 crore. To meet such huge expenses and improve the security system, Railways is having to find new sources of income. This is the reason why Railways is now emphasizing on increasing cargo loading and this minor 'adjustment' has been made in the passenger fares.