fare hike

In a rather unusual move, Railway Minister P.K. Bansal on Wednesday announced an across-the-board hike in passenger fares less than two months before presenting the Railway budget. The hike comes into effect from January 21. As a consolation, however, Mr. Bansal said there would be no further fare hike in the budget.

The increase ranges from two paise a km in the basic fare for second class ordinary (suburban) passengers to 10 paise a km for AC chair car and AC first class.

For instance, a passenger travelling from New Delhi to Chennai by the Tamil Nadu or G.T. Express will have to pay an extra Rs. 91 for a second class ticket, Rs. 132 for a sleeper ticket, Rs. 312 for AC-3 tier, Rs. 132 for AC 2-tier, and Rs. 223 for AC first class on the basic fare. (The increase in AC 2-tier and AC first class fares is in addition to the hike made in April. The hike proposed in the rail budget then for other classes of travel was rolled back immediately thereafter.)

Interestingly, the hike effected by Mr. Bansal for the economically sensitive classes is more than what was proposed by his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi (of the Trinamool Congress) in his budget for 2012-13.

But Mr. Trivedi incurred the wrath of his party chief, Mamata Banerjee, for his across-the board-hike, and lost his job.

The second ordinary and sleeper classes, heavily patronised by the economically weaker sections, had remained untouched for a decade.