Title - Guwahati unhappy with train fare hike

GUWAHATI: The decision of the Union railway ministry to hike fairs from January 21 has been opposed by the passengers in Guwahati.

The NF railway authorities said the new fares will be applicable from January 21 and the 'marginal' hike in train fares will help the railways in taking up developmental activities.

"We will get the revised chart of fares for departing trains from the northeast by January 16," said S Hajong, chief public relations officer of the NF Railways.

He added that those passengers who have already booked their tickets for after January 20 will have to pay the hiked amount to the TTEs during their journey.

Train passengers of Assam expressed unhappiness over the proposed hike in train fares. "Though the proposed fare hike seems to be a matter of few paise, the fares for long distance journeys will go up significantly," said Ramkrishna Medhi of Beltola area.

For second class ordinary (suburban) tickets, the proposed fare hike is 2 paise per km. But the same ticket for non-suburban areas will now cost 3 paise per km. The proposed hike for second class tickets of mail and express trains is 4 paise per km. The revised fare in sleeper class will be 6 paise per km and 10 paise per km in AC chair car.