Railway relents for Mumbaikars
Modification in suburban fare hike after BJP, Sena MPs write to Centre
New Delhi: In a bid to placate Mumbai suburban commuters, the Indian Railways on Tuesday modified its decision on the passenger fare hike, and said there would be no change in fares for second class travel upto 80 km. The hike in rail fares and freight charges comes into effect from Wednesday.
The Railways issued a circular on Tuesday clarifying that second class monthly tickets for suburban and non-suburban travel “shall be charged at 14.2 per cent over the existing rates rounded off. Further, there shall be no increase in second class suburban ordinary fares upto 80 km”.
In monthly seasonal tickets too, the Railways retained the existing norm, wherein a commuter needs to pay for 15 trips but travel unlimited for a month. The decision to make commuters pay for 30 trips has been withdrawn.
The Railways said this should not be seen as a “rollback’ but “restructuring” of fares for the suburban travellers.
However, the decision not to hike fares for travel upto 80 km will give big relief to commuters in Mumbai, where over 75 lakh people commute to work in local trains. It will also give relief to local commuters in Kolkata and other major cities.
Senior Maharashtra BJP leaders had called on railway minister Sadananda Gowda in the morning to press for the rollback of the hike for suburban sections.
Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinod Tawde led the party delegation to Mr Gowda.
With the modification in the passenger fare order, the Railways said the hike in unreserved segments of trains will now become effective from June 28 instead of June 25.
The passenger fare and freight hike will, however, be effective from Wednesday.
The Railways also clarified that additional amounts will not be collected from passengers of premium trains who had booked tickets before June 25. The premium trains have a dynamic fare system.
With the rollback for travel upto 80 km, the Railways hope to not make much of a loss as it had been losing passengers in short-distance sections recently as there were cheaper alternative modes of travel.