Indian Railways decide to increase fare from this week

New Delhi, Dec 25: The Indian Railways may increase the fares for all the trains this week. And the range of price of the ticket may range between 5 to 40 paise per kilometer, as per reports.

According to the United News of India report, the revised fares will be applied to all categories, including air-conditioned to unreserved and suburban monthly-quarterly season ticket fares.

In November, the Centre gave its nod to railways on the implementation of fare hike.

Reportedly, the Indian railways has been facing issues related to finances following the economic slowdown. A report by the Times of India suggested that the freight revenue of railways declined to Rs 19,412 crore between April and October, this year.

Besides, railways is also facing a loss of traffic to airlines that have managed to keep fares low.

During this period, the Indian Railways earned Rs 99, 223 crore against the projection of nearly Rs 1.18 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the total expenditure shot up by Rs 4,099 crore to Rs 1.01 lakh crore, against a target of Rs 97,265 crore.

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the railways recorded an operating ratio of 98.44 per cent in 2017-18 which is the worst in the last 10 years.

The Railways has also been unable to meet its operational cost of passenger services and other coaching services. The net revenue reportedly surplus reduced by 66.10 per cent. From Rs 4,913.00 crore in 2016-17 it has reduced to Rs 1,665.61 crore in 2017-18.