There?s soon going to be another reason to travel on rail. Fares of some passenger trains may see a further round of cuts. The railway ministry is planning to cut fare for unpopular trains that have low occupancy.
According to Rail Bhawan officials, the ministry is considering the proposal and will decide the amount of fare reduction and shortlist the trains.
?Trains are usually unpopular because of the route that they run on or the kind of service that is provided on them. Trains without pantry service are generally unpopular,? a ministry official pointed out. The occupancy of a particular train may also be low if a Rajdhani or a Shatabdi is plying on the same route, he pointed out.
It may be noted that railway minister Lalu Prasad had already announced some fare cuts in the Budget. He had reduced by Re 1 the fares of second class in non-suburban ordinary passenger and non-superfast mail and express trains. AC first class fares were reduced by 3% to 6% while AC two-tier fares were cut by 2% to 4%. Tickets for higher capacity passenger coaches were cheaper by 4% to 8%.
The ministry hopes that the move will persuade people to travel by these trains, which will not only increase their occupancy but also boost railway revenue. Along with lower freight earnings, railway passenger earnings too have declined this fiscal. Till August this year, passenger revenue earnings were Rs 7,861.56 crore compared with Rs 7,093.45 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.83%. According to Budget estimates, the railways hope to get Rs 20,075 crore in passenger earnings this fiscal. In the first five months of the fiscal, which included the busy summer holiday season as well, the railways has been able to earn only 39% of its estimated revenue from passenger fares.
Meanwhile, railway freight earnings increased to Rs 17,943.02 crore during April to August this fiscal as compared to Rs 16,334.34 crore during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 9.85%, an official statement on Wednesday said.