Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi may have chosen pragmatism over populism in effecting an increase in passenger fares in the Railway Budget he presented to Parliament on Wednesday — something not done by his predecessors over the past eight years.
But his party boss and immediate Rail Bhavan predecessor Mamata Banerjee thought otherwise, and swiftly declared the hike wouldn’t be allowed.
There was, however, no increase in freight rates.
In choosing to “bite the bullet”, to use his own words, Mr Trivedi hoped the railways, now “passing through a difficult phase”, could mop up extra revenue of Rs 6,500-7,000 crores annually. The amount is still minuscule given the railways’ need for Rs 14 lakh crores in the next decade to expand and modernise.
Mr Trivedi said he was trying to bring the railways out of the ICU (intensive care unit), adding “the time has come for a national policy (on) the railways”. He admitted the railways’ public-private partnership efforts (of which Ms Banerjee was a great votary) had not been encouraging.
The fare increase across all classes, in both suburban and long-distance trains, covers ordinary second class mail and express travel as well as first class AC, including on Rajdhanis, Shatabdis, Durantos and Janshatabdis.
People must shell out more the longer the distance they travel.
Safety has been given high priority in Mr Trivedi’s budget, also modernisation and infrastructure development — all of which require huge funds. Rolling stock investment in the next five years is expected to cost Rs 1,70,751 crores.