Budget 2012: Fare hike? Railway minister, Dinesh Trivedi, keeps everyone guessing

MUMBAI: Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Friday refused to commit himself on the touchy issue of a hike in passenger fares in the coming budget. Fares have not been increased in eight years and there is pressure on the minister to improve the finances of the railways.

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While Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar urged Trivedi to increase fares as the railways might otherwise go the Air India way, former minister and Lok Sabha MP Gurudas Kamat requested him to spare the "poor Mumbaikar" of further financial hardships by avoiding a fare hike in the budget.

Dropping a subtle hint, Trivedi said: "The railways has already taken care of the poor by introducing the Izzat monthly season ticket (MST) scheme for people in the Below Poverty Line ( BPL) category. We can, though, consider increasing the travel limit from the existing 100 km."

On a worrying note, the minister said Mumbai's suburban railway services were suffering a loss of Rs 1,000 crore and introducing more trains would lead to further financial trouble.
Conceding that the finances of the railways were not too healthy, Trivedi pointed out that the operating (expense:income) ratio of Central Railways was 112% till January 2012 in the current fiscal; it was 116% in the previous financial year.

So, what's the solution? Trivedi said he favoured a mix of budgetary support, borrowings, internally generated revenue and earnings through public-private partnership (PPP) to make the finances of the railways secure.
The railway authorities would have to take the build-operate-transfer or PPP route for development of stations and facilities, a senior government official told TOI.