Highlights of Railway's fare hike

Union Railways minister on Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday announced the fare hike and said there will not be any hike at the time of Union Budget. The minister also said Railways department has increased the fare to maintain safety and cleanliness. "Railways will hike passenger fares


from January 21," says Bansal

Highlights of fare hike:

- Second class ordinary suburban fares up by 2 paise per km

- Second class ordinary non-suburban fares up by 2 paise per km

- Second class mail express - 4paise/km

- Sleeper class - 6 paise

- AC chair car - 10 paise per km

- AC 3 tier - 10 paise

- AC 2 tier - 15 paise increased earlier + 6 paise now

- AC first class - 10 paise earlier + 3 paise

- AC first class executive - 30 paise per km increased earlier + 10 paise per km now #ht

# Fare hike effective from midnight of 21st January, 2013

The govt has reportedly hiked Rail fares to generate revenue to fund railways' two ambitious projects - high speed bullet trains and dedicated freight corridor.

Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia was said to have told railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Monday that the money required to build the freight corridor would be around Rs. 1 lakh crore - almost four-time higher than the ministry initial estimate of Rs. 27,000 crore.

Railways do not have internal resources to fund a project of such a magnitude. The government is not in a financial position to provide so much of money as finance minister P Chidambaram has already announced that allocations for different ministries would not be jacked substantially.

So, the plan panel, which allocated money to different ministries based on finance ministry's consent, wanted railways to raise its own resources to fund the mega-project now delayed for years.

And, the panel wanted ministry to start preparations for increasing its financial kitty.

The way-out, according to the panel, was hike in rail fares across categories keeping in view the rising energy costs and ground realities.

The panel officials say top officials of the railway ministry agree with their view and upward revision of rail fare can be expected soon.

The panel believed that the fare increase would also help to fund the high cost bullet trains, which the ministry wants to introduce in public private partnership mode by 2015.

Seven corridors have been selected for conducting feasibility studies including Delhi-Mumbai rail-link.