Train tickets, freight tariff to be costlier from tomor

Train tickets, freight tariff to be costlier from tomorrow

           Travelling in trains is set to

become costlier from tomorrow as the hike in reservation fee

and superfast charges announced in the Rail Budget come into

effect from April 1

.

          Besides hike in passenger fares, freight rate for all

commodities will also go up by about 5.7 per cent on Monday.

          The Railways expect to earn Rs 42,210 crore from

passengers traffic and Rs 93,554 crore from goods

transportation in 2013-14

.

            Though the Railways have not increased basic passenger

fare, it had proposed increase of the reservation fee,

superfast and Tatkal charges. Cancellation and clerkage

charges will also be hiked from April.

            While the cash-strapped Railways were expected to mop up

about Rs 880 crore annually from the latest hike in service

charges on train tickets, the freight rate revision will fetch

Rs 4200 crores for the national transporter in the fiscal

2013-14.

            As per a Railway notification, while reservation fee

for second and sleeper class has not been revised, AC classes

will be dearer by Rs 15 to Rs 25 per ticket.

          Superfast charges have been increased by Rs 10 for

sleeper and second class fare. For AC classes, the hike is

between Rs 15 and Rs 25.

          There are more than two crore passengers travelling daily

on about 11,000 trains in the country.

            Tatkal fee has been increased by 10 per cent of the basic

fare for second class and 30 per cent for all other AC

classes. While cancellation charges have been increased by Rs

10 to Rs 50 per ticket for confirmed tickets, clerkage charge

for cancellation of waiting list and RAC tickets will be

hiked by Rs 5 for sleeper class and Rs 10 for AC class.

            Cancellation and clerkage charges have been hiked to

deter touts from booking bulk tickets in advance, a senior

Railway Ministry official said.

            Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had effected the hike

in the basic passenger fare by 21 per cent before the Rail

Budget in January 22, this year.

            The hike in passenger fare was announced after 10 years

as successive Railway Ministers during that period were not in

favour of increasing fares.

            The cost of fuel and energy went up many times during

that period and it was essential to hike the fares, said the

official.