The railway minister has announced a hike in fares even before the budget session. The government is unlikely to give more funds to the Railways and several modernisation projects can be undertaken only if the Railways can generate enough revenues

Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has announced a fare hike with effect from 21st January midnight. There will be no increase during the budget, he added. This is the first railway fare hike in ten years. The new fares imply a 2 paise per kilometre increase in second class ordinary suburban tariffs. The fare for second class non suburban travel has gone up by 3 paise per kilometre and that of sleeper class has been hiked by 6 paise per kilometre. Travelling in air conditioned (AC) chair car and AC sleeper class will now be costlier by 10 paise per kilometre. In effect, the same railway fare hike that lost Dinesh Trivedi, the job of the railway minister has now been implemented after the Trinamool Congress, to which he belonged, is no longer a part of the government.
 

However, the big flash about the railway fare hike is misleading. Prices for local commuter fares have already been hiked in Mumbai from 1^st January. The irony is that Mumbai faced the worst hardship and lost at least four lives due to a badly planned and managed mega block (closure for repairs) over the year end which extended into the New Year. Both railway associations and commuters are extremely agitated at poor safety standards and the inhuman overloading of passengers in Mumbai, although the city is a big revenue earner.
 

According to Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh, “We will neither welcome, nor protest the hike. If the additional revenue from the hike is given for improving infrastructure of Mumbai local railways, then we will welcome it. The hike could have been done 10 years ago as the situation in local trains has gone from bad to worse. Even non-peak hours have seen peak hour rush. Some people have simply stopped working as they cannot enter trains.”

Expressing concerns about the local railway infrastructure he added, “People from all over India come to Mumbai for jobs. But, infrastructure projects for local railways have not been implemented due to lack of funds. Due to regional parties holding the ministry there has been a neglect of Mumbai’s local issues as they want to pander to their own local vote banks. They have to realise that their own people come to Mumbai for jobs and there is need for funds to improve conditions for 70 lakh commuters of Mumbai local railways.”
 

The Railways estimates suggest that it looses Rs21,000 crore annually in the passenger fare segment. It is reported that Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia met Mr Bansal and told him that the government may not give more funds to the Railways. Mr Ahluwalia said that it has to generate revenue to fund its dream projects including modernisation and expansion—particularly the dedicated freight corridor and high speed bullet trains.
 

Deepak Gandhi is the president of Mumbai Suburban Passengers Association who has been fighting the cause of railway passengers for 50 years. According to him, “The hike is a premium on inefficiency. Today, trains are running slower than in 1947. New technology is not implemented and there is huge wastage of resources. We should be having double the number of services on the same tracks. Corridors can be reached in half the time if efficiency is improved. Politicians do not apply their mind. Whatever the bureaucrats say, it is blindly implemented. The benefit is not coming to the public. There is total abuse due to Railways monopoly.”

Dinesh Trivedi, former railway minister, while speaking at an event organised by Moneylife Foundation, had said that the entire railway system is in a mess and there is a urgent need to modernize it so that people can travel safely with some dignity, unlike what every commuter, especially on Mumbai local trains experience every day. “There are no maintenance contracts given by the Railways and they are carrying out even the basic repairs on ad-hoc basis,” he had said.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/who-will-pay-for-the-deaths-and-chaos-on-the-mumbai-rail-network/30539.html

Mr Bansal is reported to have said that the cross-subsidization—a scheme where railways charge higher freight rates in order to keep the passenger fares low—has become unviable and railways can persist with it only at the cost of pricing them out of the goods transportation business. Road transporters will result in clogged roads, higher transport cost for goods and higher pollution.
 

He also said that railways needed funds to do even the elementary things—from upgrading signalling system to facilitate running of trains through fog, installation of anti-collision devices to bio toilets in coaches and at stations as part of ensuring better hygiene.