Railway passenger fare hiked by 14.2% with immediate effect from today

[Avik274]

very good action as railway is running on hell high debt..

 

[lightoftruth]

The railways sought to correct the long running distortion in the fare structure by hiking passenger fares by 14.2 per cent across all classes and freight charges by 6.5 per cent. The increase takes effect immediately.

The previous government had decided to hike fares from May 20, but its implementation was stayed because the announcement was made on the same day as declaration of election results.

However, the speed with which this government took the decision caught senior railways officials by surprise because just a day earlier, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda had told them that some rounds of consultations were still pending.

Senior officials said the hike in passenger fares will help pare down the diversion of profits from the freight to passenger segment. Successive Governments have shied away from biting the bullet on passenger fares because of fears of public dissatisfaction.

As a result, passenger hikes in previous years, especially in the more patronised second class and suburban travel, were either rolled back or of amounts that were lower than planned. The railways moves about 600 crore passengers every year.

While Opposition parties opposed the hike, senior officials said this will partially restore railways financial health in both mid and long terms. For now, it will leave an adequate amount to modernise existing infrastructure and build new one. In the long term it will help stave off the financial predicament faced by the country's largest single employer when the Sixth Pay Commission was announced
Rail passenger fare hiked by 14.2 per cent - The Hindu

BJP should not be apologetic about it ,it is a correct decision.although to avoid a political hooo haa in future an independent Rail Tariff Authority proposed earlier should be made.Their will be future hikes as well bec of implementation of seventh pay commission from 2016

 

[Infinity]

Forget the railways .... BJP proposed to hike prices of each cigarette by Rs3.50

If they don't have Bidis let them eat Cigarettes.........................

 

[Android]

Reminds of this old line "Chain se sona hai to ab jaag jao".

 

[Geek]

Zee News is showing that Indian Railway is in debt of more than 10,000 crore ruppes + Indian Railway need 40,000 crore for Fast railway tracks and security updates. So, i think this hike in price is necessary

 

[cirr]

Chinese passenger railway fares have stayed unchanged for years if not decades。

Can't remember when it was last time fares got a hike。

 

[sancho]

I don't know what you want, if you are opposing for the sake of opposing...

Firstly I am far away from opposing for the sake of opposing! I clearly showed that BJP is doing something now, that they opposed earlier and that actually is against what they had promised to do (improving conditions for industry to create more growth, reducing the price rise for the common people)!
So now when one of their first actions in power is so contradictory (and I could easily show more just from the few weeks if I wanted just to oppose), I am wondering what BJP supportes / voters think or feel about this? That's why I asked you for your opinion on this.

firstly i compared with NDA years b'coz during elections Congress used to come up again & again with GDP nos. & compared it with NDA years, so why not Inflation.

Because that's not what I asked about! I don't wanted to start a new comparison between BJP and Congress, but talking about what BJP is doing, what the aims or result might be and as mentioned above what you as a voter think about it?

Just tell me, if no rail hike where would money come from for revamp?

I already said that I agree that prices need to be increased to improve things, but what I question is...

...if such a steep hike is necessary in this situation where the common people are already burdened with such high costs
...if the increase of freight cost is not counterproductive to their goal of improving the situation for exports, by increasing transport costs which automatically will increase the price of the export products
...that they seemed to have forgot what they promised during election times, within a few weeks in power. Which means they either had different goals from the start or had realized that it doesn't work the way they thought it could when they were in the opposition

how many Indians use the railways without paying anything?

I wonder how much revenue is lost there.

True, but then get more people into work for the railways to control tickets. You could increase jobs and earn more revenue without hurting mass of the travelers, so wouldn't that be the better solution?

Freight costs have not been raised drastically, a more efficient railways would be far better for industries than what is now.

It's debatable if it's drastic or not, when I got it right they even raised it higher than the increase UPA had aimed on and that is kind of surprising isn't it? However, the point is not how much they increased it, but that they have made a credible increase, in a time where the industry is coming out of a global depression. This is the time where the Indian industry must benefit from low costs to increase interests in their products, but increased transport costs will work against that, even if it will have a possible effect in the mid to long term, which depends on how the money will be spent though.
They are in power for 5 years, all predictions shows that the growth will catch up in the next years, so why this steep rate hike now and not in 1 or 2 years, after economy is pushing high again and inflation hopefully was reduced?

 

[pursuit of happiness]

Zee News is showing that Indian Railway is in debt of more than 10,000 crore ruppes + Indian Railway need 40,000 crore for Fast railway tracks and security updates. So, i think this hike in price is necessary

--
cutser
lalu
mamta
upa

 

[Bang Galore]

It's debatable if it's drastic or not, when I got it right they even raised it higher than the increase UPA had aimed on and that is kind of surprising isn't it? However, the point is not how much they increased it, but that they have made a credible increase, in a time where the industry is coming out of a global depression. This is the time where the Indian industry must benefit from low costs to increase interests in their products, but increased transport costs will work against that, even if it will have a possible effect in the mid to long term, which depends on how the money will be spent though.
They are in power for 5 years, all predictions shows that the growth will catch up in the next years, so why this steep rate hike now and not in 1 or 2 years, after economy is pushing high again and inflation hopefully was reduced?

Any government has its best shot in the first two years & especially in the first few months where people are willing to give it the benefit of doubt. Drastic increases later will only make the government more unpopular without the result of the unpopular decision reflecting within that government's term. This decision, taken in the first couple of months of the term will start showing results by the end of the 3rd-beginning of the 4th year. It's why I think this is a good decision. Just take a look at this fact.

With Indian Railways incurring a loss of about Rs 900 crore per month in the passenger segment, economists hailed the move as a step in the right direction that won't do much to push up prices.

Still think it is drastic? The government should look at LPG next. The losses there are derailing the economy. I believe they are looking at increasing domestic LPG-subsidised at the rate of Rs.10/- per month. About time though an immediate large hike might have been better for the economy. Worries about backlash are vastly overstated in my view, a family probably gets one cylinder per month or in two months. A hike of a couple of hundred rupees should be acceptable.

Sitting around & doing nothing while waiting for growth is a bad, bad idea. You need to create conditions for it. Out of control finances will doom any possible growth cycle before it can even take off.

 

[Markus]

In Mumbai local train season passes, the increase is not 14.2 %, rather its more than 200 %

 

[NKVD]

In Mumbai local train season passes, the increase is not 14.2 %, rather its more than 200 %

Still less We should Increase First cls And 2nd Cls Upto To 20% If possible get Some Rebate to Low Cls

 

[sancho]

Drastic increases later will only make the government more unpopular

Not that it should have an importance, but if popularity is the key factor, delaying these steep increases to a time when there is more growth and more money available for the people, obviously is less of a problem than it is today.

This decision, taken in the first couple of months of the term will start showing results by the end of the 3rd-beginning of the 4th year. It's why I think this is a good decision. Just take a look at this fact.

It's not the decision to increase rates in general that is the problem, but how they do it and what they intended to do. Even if they ignore their earlier statements, a modest rate increase for the people and no increase for the freight now, with a steady increase over the next years could had been possible too isn't it?
Also the effect of this steep decision will be seen even in the next few weeks, when people simply can't afford to use the train that often anymore, because it's too expensive.

Sitting around & doing nothing while waiting for growth is a bad, bad idea. You need to create conditions for it.

But that exactly is the point! Increasing transport costs now does not help the industry. It's just a measure for the government to create more income and how they use the money will be seen only afterwards, while the immediate effect is as mentioned cost increase for those that must be supported now.

Still less We should Increase First cls And 2nd Cls Upto To 20% If possible get Some Rebate to Low Cls

Btw, does anybody have a graphic or source how the rate hike will be diverted? I mean equally to all classes or will the first class be charged higher?

 

[Iggy]

They are proposing an increase in gas price also!!

 

[Sam.]

Still less We should Increase First cls And 2nd Cls Upto To 20% If possible get Some Rebate to Low Cls

For your kind information - No one pays for general class in train ( If BJP can make them pay then railway will be 100x profit condition)

So poor doesn't give a fk to prices as they hardly pay for travelling.

 

[sancho]

They are proposing an increase in gas price also!!

Source please, thanks!