Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday announced a hike in passenger fares that will take effect Jan 21.
Bansal said that the new fares, which range between 2 to 10 paise per kilometre, will not be further hiked in the Railways Budget which will be presented in March 2014. This is the first hike in train travel prices to have taken place in a decade.
Listed below is the increment in fare hikes for different categories:
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
Along with in the increase in fares, improvements in safety and other amenities are expected.
The decision to hike fares was taken in consideration of the present financial condition of the railways sector. During 2010-11, Indian railways faced losses adding up to nearly ₹20,000 crore which may increase to ₹25,000 crore this year. The hike is expected to raise ₹6,600 crore in revenue for the railways.
Passenger charges were earlier hiked by then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi in March 2012. Outrage over the increase in prices forced Trivedi to step down from his post and a rollback was announced.
