Railway fares may go up

The passenger fares in the Indian Railways may go up soon or it be announced in the next budget, hinted the Minister of State for Railways Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy.

He said that the passenger fares might be hiked by 5 to 10 paise per km in the next railway budget. Reddy said that the financial position of the railways was not so good. ‘If we can’t increase the fares, railways will not survive’, informed the minister. Another Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also expressed the similar opinion on hiking the fares.

The railways have incurred a loss to the tune of Rs.22,000 crores in the passenger segment in the current year. The figure is Rs.4,000 crores more than that of the previous year. One senior railway official said that the decision on increasing the fares would be announced in the budget or before its presentation.