when every pay commission revises upward the salaries and pensions (every 5 years, apart from railways' own increments), why couldn't railways constitute an active fare commission? there is a whole lot of politics involved. railways is trying to simply reduce the burden (of salaries and pensions) with doing away from those classes of employees (posts) having negligent or nil revenue generation. Results are there for everyone to see -- stations where private parties are engaged to clean platforms and toilets are better than others. Trains where OBHS is, are cleaner than others. Now the axe is on Catering and TTEs. Now IRCTC is a full new entity with public investment, not only government. Erring staff will get demoted/transferred to a new place/department. TTEs are known to fill their pockets first, then serve authorized pax. They will be forced to work, hard. Else transfer to other duties with lesser remuneration when revenue...
more... realization is better at private trains.
We'll get there. may take a few years though.