Written by G.V. Ramesh
Over the past few years,Indian Railways has flagged off a string of “special fare specials” for the convenience of passengers. On paper, each announcement reads like good news: more trains, more connectivity, more options for a city that is home to a huge floating population of migrant workers, students, and pilgrims. In practice, for the ordinary passenger, the benefit is far thinner than the press note suggests. Instead of going through exhaustive list of these trains, I chose some of the long period running of these specials, at random.
I The trains, and what they actually are
- 09419/09420 Ahmedabad–Tiruchirapalli Special — running (with breaks and extensions) since October 2022, currently a weekly service covering roughly 2,133 km in about 40+ hours.
- 09465/09466 Ahmedabad–Darbhanga Special — a “clone special” running since 2022, essentially duplicating an existing mail/express route to Bihar.
- 09447/09448 Ahmedabad–Patna Special — running since at least 2020–21, also a “clone” of an existing Ahmedabad–Patna express.
- 09087/09088 Ahmedabad–Mumbai Central AC Special — not new at all; this pairing dates to 2018 and reappears seasonally as a summer/festival special.
- 04166/04167 Ahmedabad–Agra Cantonment Special — genuinely new, introduced in 2024, running on the North Central Railway zone.
NOTE ;The period of starting year or train number is incorrect, let me apologise for the same but it is not intentional. Kindly correct it by sending the correct year and train no.to the email given in CONTACT US.
What “special fare” actually means for the ordinary passenger
The word “special” in “Special Fare Special” is not decorative — it is a fare category. These trains are priced above the standard sleeper/3AC/2AC tariff that applies to regular mail and express trains, sometimes close to premium or Tatkal-level pricing, precisely because they sit outside the normal fare structure. So the passenger who could not get a confirmed seat on the regular Ahmedabad–Patna or Ahmedabad–Tiruchirapalli express is offered an alternative — at a materially higher price, for a berth that would otherwise have cost less on a scheduled service if one existed with adequate frequency.
For a migrant worker travelling from Ahmedabad to Bihar for a family emergency, or a family saving for months to visit Tamil Nadu, this is not a minor detail. It is the difference between “a train exists” and “a train I can actually afford.”
The consequential benefit — closer to nil than to relief
Put together, the pattern across most of these routes
- Low frequency — weekly or seasonal, not a real substitute for daily connectivity.
- Higher fares — special fare pricing, sometimes with no advance-notice discounting.
- On demand/Frequent diversions/ Cancellations — several of these trains have documented histories of route diversions, coach reductions, and outright cancellations during festival or agitation periods, precisely when demand — and desperation — is highest.
The bottom line
None of this means these trains are useless — for a passenger with no other option, even an expensive, infrequent train beats no train. But the framing matters. When “special trains” are announced as a solution to overcrowding and demand on established routes, without matching frequency, fare parity, no pantry mostly the actual relief delivered to the ordinary passenger — and especially to the elderly passenger — is close to nil, while the cost of travel goes up.
Fare Structure:with NO PANTRY:
It is not a secret not to be revealed how much charges for ordinary sleeper class between two short distance stations are levied , If you consider the logic that this is to avoid way side and short distance travel passengers boarding at intermediate stationa, then the long distance passengers having paid SPECIAL FARES , the running time is punishing coupled with NO PANTRY, totally leaving at the mercy of the vendors of the way side station, its better we write less about it.These trains are not for privileged but for the convenience of urgency driven or ordinary passengers and if they happen to be young children and senior citizens, its simple horrible, where they require safe food and water, minimum. Who will help these passengers, its not self fed or self doing to get services having paid premium fare.
What needs to be done :
Who will help these passengers,Can we blame railways , STRICTLY NO. Then what needs to be done.
i Let it run truly fast atleast by reducing the total running time not less than 3 hours for a very long distance train like Ahmedabad –Tiruchirapalli special train. Railway administration knows where the buffer lies, practically to achieve this, less better we write to attain the goal.
ii. For short distance of less than 600 kms or even 1000 kms overnight, the running time should be less than 60 minutes for less than 600 kms and for 1000 kms, it is not less than 120. minutes.
iii Cleanliness practically is missing not only when it starts but more important in the mid way., there the use of CENTRALISED COMPLAINT MECHANISM is of no use, as its aim is to close the complaint within 24 hours, which is for the present. It can’t be denied improvement is not there but even after all this mechanism, it is not to the extent of SPECIAL SERVICES for which the passengers expectations are more and have to be satisfied really but not appears to be satisfied.