Rail fare hiked in sleeper and AC classes; first revision in 10 years

09 Jan 2013 Evaluate

Rail ticket is all set for a hike for the first time in 10 years with Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal announcing a hike in train fares ranging from 2 to 10 paise per kilometre, which will come into effect from midnight January 21 for all passenger classes including AC-1 and AC-2 tier. The government has hiked the fares mainly to generate revenue to fund railways' two ambitious projects - high speed bullet trains and dedicated freight corridor.

Following changes has been made to the fare charts -- 2nd class ordinary suburban - 2 paise per Km, 2 class ordinary non suburban - 3 paise per Km, 2nd class mail express train- 4 paise per Km, Sleeper class- 10 paise per Km, AC chair car- 10 paise per Km, AC 2 tier- 6 paise per km, AC first class- 3 paise per Km. Earlier, AC I and AC II fare was hiked by 10 to 15 paise in September 2012. However, the fare hike is higher than what was proposed in the Rail Budget 2012.

Justifying the hike, Bansal said the passenger segment losses are expected to touch around Rs 25,000 crore in the current fiscal and economic slowdown has furthered impacted the railway earnings. The recent fare hike will help raise an additional Rs 1,200-1,300 crore in the remaining period of current fiscal, adding that the annual incremental increase in earnings including passenger growth is expected to be about Rs 6,600 crore.

Further, the railway minister said that extra revenue earned through this fare hike will be used to maintain cleanliness and safety. By adding further he said railway is making all efforts to meet safety requirements and also assured that fares will not be increased when the Railways Budget is presented.

Earlier, Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi was forced to quit after he hiked fares in March 2012. In April 2012, AC I and AC II class fares were increased by 20 per cent. 

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