Indian Railways' fares, freight rates to be 'rationalised', says Railway Board chairman

Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said on Thursday that the Indian Railways is in the process of "rationalising" its passengers and freight rates. He although did not reveal if the prices will be increased.

Yadav said in a media briefing that even though the railways had launched a slew of measures to offset its decreasing revenues, jacking up the fares was a "sensitive" matter. He added that this issue had to be debated in detail before taking a final call on the same.

"We are going to rationalise the fares and freight rates. Something is being thought about. I cannot divulge more, this is a sensitive subject. While the freight fares are already high, our target is to draw more traffic from road to railways in this regard," he said.

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The Indian Railway has been hit hard by the economic slowdown, with the earnings of the national transporter suffering a dip of Rs 155 crore and Rs 3,901 crore in passenger and freight fares respectively in the second quarter of the current fiscal, compared to the previous one, according to an RTI reply.

In the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year 2019-20, the railways earned a revenue of Rs 13,398.92 crore from passenger fares. This dipped to Rs 13,243.81 crore in the July-September quarter.

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(With inputs from PTI.)