Indian Railways says fare fixation formula is ‘trade secret’

The Indian Railways has refused to disclose the methodology of fare fixation of different classes saying it was a “trade secret”.

Responding to a petition filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005, seeking information on the standard methodology or criteria used by the Indian Railways for calculating the base fare for train tickets across categories, the Chief Public Information Officer held that the classification and methodology of fare fixation fell in the domain of trade secret/intellectual property rights and disclosure was not considered appropriate in public interest.

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After the petitioner appealed against the decision before the Central Information Commission, the Director, Rates, and Joint Director, Railway Board, clarified that the Indian Railways is run as a commercial utility and, at the same time, being an instrumentality of State was required to discharge various social obligations in national interest.

Profits distributed to common man

“Therefore, the disclosure of pricing related information is not justified in public interest, as profit if any is distributed to common man and is not retained for the benefit of personal gain as in the case of private enterprise,” the respondents said.

Justifying the denial of information under the provisions of Section 8(1)(d) of the Act, the CPIO shared the latest base fare structure for passenger train services that came into effect from December 26, 2025.

Upholding the decision of the railways, the commission said that the CPIO was only a communicator of information based on records held in the office and not expected to create information as per the desire of the petitioner. The public authority could only provide information readily available on record. The reply given by the CPIO was in consonance with the provisions of the Act and there was no infirmity in the same.

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After the recent revision in fares, the railways announced the pricing for the newly launched Vande Bharat sleeper trains, which were significantly higher when compared to the existing fare structure of Mail/Express and Super Fast Express trains, railway sources said.