The Railway Ministry issued an order on December 31 in which it said that while suburban fares will remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares are being hiked by 1 paise per km of journey. The railways also announced a two paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes.
The national transporter has said that the increased revenue collection from passenger fare hike will enable faster modernisation of the Indian Railways infrastructure and services.
Now passenger going from New Delhi to Howrah by Poorva Express for a distance of 1,451 km, will have to shell out Rs 615 in the Sleeper class, an increase of over Rs 29. While for the 3AC, 2AC and 1AC, the passenger will now have to pay Rs 735, Rs 2490 and Rs 4230 respectively, an increase by Rs 58.
Similarly, in the New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express for the First Class, Second Class and Third Class AC class, now passengers have to pay Rs 4718 + GST, Rs 2496 + GST and Rs 2128 + GST, an increase by Rs 58 approximately.
Similarly, travel from Delhi to Mumbai also increased by Rs 25 and by Rs 50 in Sleeper and AC classes.
Earlier, the passengers in Punjab Mail paid Rs 640 for travel in Sleeper Class from Delhi to Mumbai, but now they have to shell out Rs 665 for the same distance in the Sleeper class coaches.
However, in the first, Second and Third AC coaches, the passengers will now have to pay Rs 50 more and the fares have now gone up to Rs 4230, Rs 2490 and Rs 1,735 respectively.
The fares in the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani have also gone up by Rs 50 for the journey. Now a passenger will have to shell out Rs 4146 + GST, Rs 2938 + GST and Rs 2,000 + GST respectively. Even the fares of the Shatabdi Express have also gone up.
The last time Indian Railways revised passenger fares was in 2014-15. Indian Railways has said that with 7th Pay Commission payouts, and increased modern passenger amenities, it has become essential to rationalise fares.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )