Dynamic pricing sees Rajdhani berths Empty .....

The Indian Railways decision to introduce demand-based dynamic fares for its premium trains — 42 Rajdhanis, 46 Shatabdis and 54 Duranto trains across the country — has resulted in fares sometimes being on par with those for air travel. One result is that the Mumbai Central–New Delhi Rajdhani Express, train 12951, has been running with a large number of empty berths. This is pushing the Railway ministry to reevaluate the strategy.
The Railways borrowed the dynamic fare system from he airlines, and introduced it with premium trains. Under the Railways version of the system, the first 10% of the tickets are sold at the base fare, and beyond that, fares are increased based on demand. For example, on March 10 and 11, a Mumbai–Delhi Rajdhani AC two-tier ticket was ₹4,105 (from a base fare of ₹2,870) and AC three-tier went up to ₹2,760 (base fare ₹2,085).
In February 2017, the Mumbai Rajdhani carried 34,428 passengers (889 in the First Class AC compartments, 7,948 in Second AC, 25,591 in Third AC). While First and Third AC berths did see a drop, Second AC berths were significantly lower than previous levels. Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railway, said, “The Railway board is experimenting with various new things, and dynamic fare is one. The board is also reevaluating the dynamic fare as second AC berths are going empty by 15% to 20 %.” Mr. Jain said that the reason behind the empty berths, especially in Second AC, was because the fare is very close to the airline tickets, “so passengers are opting for flight instead of train.”
Yuvraj Sen, who used to travel often by Rajdhani, says that since last month, he has shifted to taking flights. “Why should I waste my money on dynamic fares when I have the option of flights for a similar amount? Now I spend almost the same and reach my destination earlier than if I had travelled by train.”
Senior officials from Western Railway say that they have been trying their best to get bookings on the Rajdhani back to previous levels, without success.
For passengers, this has resulted in greater ease in getting tickets: where once the train would regularly be booked well in advance, now it is possible to get tickets the day previous to a journey or even on the journey day.