Through our childhood travelling by Rajdhani Express was always akin to a luxurious journey. Through our naive little eyes the entire experience along with delicious meals and snacks, fighting over seats and who got to take a comfy snooze with the cosy linen provided, was something we’d look forward to and plan for days. The attentive service in the air-conditioned compartments of the grand train left little room for complaint.
Rajdhani Express is now iconic and still remains the most convenient railway, with a shorter travel time than most other trains to bring you to your destination. All of this makes the ticket prices of its AC-II and AC-I compartments today more or less similar to airfares, as per Times of India’s report. So much so that during his tenure as Air Indian Chairman, Ashwani Lohani proposed that passengers holding unconfirmed AC-I and AC-II tickets could possibly upgrade their travel plans to an Air India (AI) flight, paying the difference in fare, if any.
While the Indian Railways weren’t keen on the idea at the time, now Chairman of the Railway Board, Lohani reportedly stated that if AI puts the scheme on the table again, he would clear it for approval. “If AI approaches us with this proposal, we will accept it,” Lohani stated to Times of India. The airline hasn’t really responded to Lohani’s statement, Rajiv Bansal, a senior IAS officer that was put in charge of AI following Lohani’s move said it was too soon to make any comments. “This is the first time I am hearing of such a thing. There is a difference in train and airfares...” he said. Who would this benefit more, the airline or Rajdhani Express? We can’t be sure whether they would work in conjunction and for mutual benefit, time will tell if AI is open to such a proposal to boost their own depleting customer base or continue giving Rajdhani Express competition by matching their fares.
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