Railway fares to remain unchanged

NEW DELHI: There will be no reduction in rail fares and freight tariff, railway minister Lalu Prasad said Wednesday. “We have not increased fare even when oil (diesel) prices were raised. We purchase diesel worth Rs 6,000 crore and the loss was compensated through other sources,” he said while speaking at the Economic Editors’ Conference here.

Crude prices have declined from as high as $75 per barrel in August to around $58 a barrel now. This led to suggestions that railway fares and freight tariffs should be lowered to reflect cheaper fuel costs.

Indian railways has earned Rs 34,335.87 crore during April-October ’06 as compared with Rs 29,859.44 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of almost 15%. Total goods earning has gone up from Rs 19,907.92 crore to Rs 23,079.97 crore during April-October ’06, registering an increase of 15.93 %.

The total passenger revenue earnings during ’06 were Rs 9,843.38 crore compared with Rs 8,811.97 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 11.70 %.