New Delhi, Jul 18 (IANS): The government on Wednesday said that in a bid to improve the occupancy of less patronized trains, the Indian Railways is offering 10 per cent rebate in the basic fare in all trains on vacant berths or seats after preparation of first Reservation Chart.

"On Indian Railways, demand is not uniform. It varies during lean and peak periods and this lean and peak period is also not uniform for all parts of the country.

"However, the overall occupancy of all reserved trains on Indian Railways during the Financial Year 2017-18 was more than 100 per cent," Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Claiming that several steps to improve the occupancy of less patronized trains are being initiated, he said that the government is introducing fast services and reducing running time of existing trains and also making the timings of empty trains more convenient.

Another measure includes declaration of sleeper class coach as unreserved second class or unreserved sleeper class coach.

Highlighting further steps, Gohain said, "Railways is studying the utilization pattern of trains to make necessary modifications like re-distribution of reservation quota, augmentation or reduction of load of train etc."

He said that the Railways is introducing suitable type of trains catering to specific requirements of passengers on road-competitive sectors.

The Minister pointed out that the Railways is also offering discounted fare in Shatabdi trains in last or first leg of the journey from Mysuru to Bengaluru section, from Ahmedabad to Vadodara and from New Jalpaiguri to Malda Town.

He said that the Railways is reducing the frequency of such trains and cancellation of poorly patronized trains, if so required.