As per Indian Railways, it has been declared that to increase the number of passengers travelling in trains and compete well with the ones travelling via road transport, short run distance superfast Shatabdi express fares will be cut down. Even, to experiment the same, Indian Railways had cut short fares in two such trains to a sharp rise. It has even been noticed that people were actually preferring to take a tour in air conditioned buses rather than trains and due to competitive rates, road transport saw increase in number of passengers travelling that were actually taken away from the Railways.
One of the members of the Railway Board stated that AC buses were charging about Rs. 430 whereas Shatabdi trains were charging about Rs. 470 for the same route and that’s why they have cutting down the rate to about Rs. 350 and at present, the situation is under control and backing is been done at 100%.
Losing passengers and travellers opting to travel through buses instead of trains is one of the major concerns actually of Indian Railways. And, since its establishment in year 1981, the freight charge of the railways is also cut down to about 36% from 62%. Adding to this, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu stated that there are more projects lined up assuring to make the Railways smoother, convenient and hassle free all around the nation but despite the assistance and support available from the centre, there has been a death of the funds available.
Source: http://www.timesnow.tv/india/article/indian-railways-to-cut-shatabdi-short-run-trains-fares-to-compete-with-road-transport/62470