There could be another hike in railway passenger fares soon as Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal didn't not ruled such a possibility owing to the recent increase in diesel price.
Hinting that another hike could be announced in the upcoming Railway Budget to be presented on Feb 26, Bansal said people will come to know after 19 days whether there is increase in rail fares or not.
The Railway minister announced rail fares hike on Jan 9, the first hike in ten years, and it became effective on Jan 21.
"We were expecting ₹6,600 crore after the recent passenger fare hike. But the ₹10.80 per litre diesel hike would cost railways ₹3,300 crore a year," PTI quoted Bansal as saying. "Fund is required for laying new lines, development of stations and for ongoing projects."
The railway minister had hiked rail fares, ranging from 2 to 10 paise per kilometer, on January 21, which is expected to earn an additional income of ₹1200 crore by March 31, 2013.
The decision to hike the rail fares was taken after the Indian railways faced losses up to ₹20,000 crore during 2010-11, which may increase to ₹25,000 crore this year.
Listed below is the increment in fare hikes announced in January:
Second Class Ordinary Suburban - 2 paise per km
Second Class Ordinary Non Suburban - 3 paise per km
Second Class Mail Express Trains - 4 paise per km
AC chair car - 10 paise per km
AC first class - 10 paise done earlier + 3 paise per km
AC two tier - 15 paise done earlier + 6 paise per km
AC first class executive class - 30 paise done earlier + 10 paise per km
Passenger fares were earlier hiked by then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi in his Railway Budget presented in 2012, for which he had to step down following opposition from his party Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and other members. The proposed hike was subsequently rolled back.
