New Delhi: The government is considering a hike in fares of passenger trains after over five years since they were last raised. The hike may be implemented before the end of this financial year.
Asked about the possibility of a fare hike, Railway Board chairman VK Yadav told reporters on Thursday that “something is being thought about” on these lines.
“We are going to rationalise both fare and freight. Freight rates are already very high so I don’t think we will be raising freight rates… in fact, we need to rationalise freight rates… to bring down logistics cost,” Yadav said.
The Railway chief did not specify a timeline. “Being a very sensitive subject, I will not be able to give you any details, but some thinking is going on,” he added.
Late Thursday, however, a Railway Board spokesman said that “there is no proposal to hike fares”. “Rationalisation of fare is a thought, which does not mean that fares will be increased, it may decrease also,” he said.
According to sources, a proposal to raise fares has been with government for months now with the Railways facing a financial crunch, the Indian Express reported.
This time, sources said, the hike proposed is through a multitude of “scenarios” presented before Rail Minister Piyush Goyal: sparing the lower classes; bringing them in the ambit of the hike; different hike slabs for different classes, even suburban classes; and, a per-kilometre hike.
Sources said the latest move could probably result in a hike of around 10 per cent. But it is not yet known in which shape or form the hike will be approved, they said.
