Title - Railways mulls another fare hike

Indian Railways is exploring possibilities of another hike in passenger fare. The Ministry is in a fix in attempting to find a way out between its fund requirement and Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s commitment about not increasing the fare in budget. 

“We are working on it (fare hike proposal). No final decision has been taken. But there is a need to seriously look into our account books. It is in bad shape,” a senior official at the Railway Board told The Pioneer.

An across the board minimal hike in passenger fare, introducing fuel component in fare and few others are under consideration. Official are also looking at other options, like increasing Tatkal charges, to raise fund.

Passenger fare was hiked — in the range of 2 to 10 paise per km — last month and Railway was expecting to rake up additional Rs6600 crore. This anticipated gain has now been reduced to half with Government’s subsequent decision to increase diesel price by Rs 10 per litre for bulk purchasers like Railways. At present rate, Railways’ diesel bill will rise by almost Rs3,300 crore per year.

Around Rs4.5 lakh is required for modernisation of Railways while another Rs1.5 lakh crore is needed to complete the ongoing projects — some of whom are now more than 15 years old.  

“There is a concern that any budget announcement of hike in passenger fare would create trouble for the government. At the same time, there is an admission about hiking fare. The final call will be taken by the Minister (very soon),” official said.

Bansal will present the present the Railway Budget on February 26 and he is unlikely to alter the freight charges. Officials fear any further increase in freight charges, which is already on the higher side, would result into loss of business to the road sector.