The Railway Budget for 2002-03 proposes a modest hike in passenger fares and rationalization of freight tariffs to net Rs 13.60 billion a year.
Of this, passenger fare hike will yield Rs 9.10 billion and freight Rs 4.50 billion, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar announced in the Lok Sabha presenting the Railway Budget.
Passenger fares:
Minimum fare for second class (mail/express) to be increased from Rs 15 to Rs 16. At longer distances up to 341 kms, the increase ranges from Rs 1 to Rs 6.
The minimum fare for ordinary second class will increase from Rs 3 to Rs 4 with the maximum increase for any distance up to 100 kms pegged at only Rs 3.
At certain distances, fares would be lower by Re 1 to Rs 2 due to rationalisation.
Relativity index for sleeper class (mail/express) to be increased from Rs 155 to Rs 160 and AC chair car from Rs 300 to Rs 350.
For AC First Class a reduction in relativity index from Rs 1,440 to Rs 1,400 has been made to make it more competitive with air travel.
No change in relativity index for other classes of travel.
The fares for distances beyond 100 km for ordinary second class will be fixed at 55 per cent of the second class mail and express fares.
Fares for second class monthly season tickets to be fixed equivalent to fares for 15 single journeys by ordinary second class.
There will be no changes in the system of charging for quarterly season tickets, existing fare structure of Rajdhani and Shatabdi and parcel and luggage rates including newspapers and magazines.
The Railway Budget for 2002-03 proposes a modest hike in passenger fares and rationalization of freight tariffs to net Rs 13.60 billion a year.