Attention commuters! Indian Railways to hike train fares from July 1: Check new slabs, Tatkal booking changes and more

Mint

30-06-2025

Increase in train fares: Train fares for second-class passengers on long-distance trains will be hiked from July 1, 2025, Indian Railways notified in a statement on Monday.
The maximum fare hike will be 2 paise per kilometre, as per the notification by the railway board.
Fares for non-AC coaches will increase by 1 paisa per kilometre, while AC classes will see a hike of 2 paise per kilometre.
Suburban trains and ordinary second-class travel for distances up to 500 kilometres will remain unaffected.
Here's the revised list of fares.
Train type Hike in fare Second Class Ordinary
Increase by ₹ 5 for 501-1500km
Increase by ₹ 10 for 1501-2500km
Increase by ₹ 15 for 2501-3000km Sleeper Class Ordinary Half paisa First Class Ordinary Half paisa Second Class (Mail/Exp) one paisa Sleeper Class (Mail/Exp) one paisa First Class (Mail/Exp) one paisa AC Chair Car two paisa AC-3 tier/3E two paisa AC-2 tier two paisa AC First Class /EC/EA two paisa
Basic fares of train services such as the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, AC Vistadome coach, and other trains have also been revised as per the above-mentioned table.
The latest increase in train fares by Indian Railways marks the first hike since 2022, as per reports.
As per Indian Railways, other charges such as reservation fee and superfast surcharge will remain unchanged.
There are also no changes in fares for Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) and Suburban train fares.
Apart from increasing train fares, Indian Railways has announced that reservation charts for long-distance trains will now be prepared eight hours before departure.
Earlier, the reservation charts used to be prepared four hours before a train's scheduled departure.
Starting July 1, 2025, only passengers with completed Aadhaar verification will be eligible to book Tatkal tickets through the IRCTC website or mobile app.
OTP-based authentication will be done for Tatkal bookings from the end of July.
Apart from the changes in reservation charts, Indian Railways also aims to roll out a modernised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) by December 2025. The new PRS will allow over 1.5 lakh ticket bookings per minute. This figure is roughly five times that of 32,000 tickets per minute in the current PRS, said the Railways, according to an ANI report.
Users will be able to submit their choice of seat and see the fare calendar.
PRS also has integrated facilities for Divyangjan, students and patients.