Know why you may have to shell out more money on rail fares soon

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked railways to publicise the 'real cost' and ' subsidy' of passenger fares to make travellers aware of the burden it is bearing for their travel, which can then be reduced through rationalisation in line with the 'GiveItUp' campaign for LPG.

The PM's directive at a meeting on road and rail sectors last month indicates a move to eventually ask travellers with paying capacity to bear the full burden of their ticket and keeping cheaper fares only for economically weaker sections.

The transport behemoth has been asked to prepare this mechanism plan within three months i.e by August. At present, railways loses around Rs 30,000 crore annually on passenger segment, which is cross-subsidised by freight earnings.

The PM has also asked road and rail ministries to create a framework to measure user's experience.

The ministry has been asked to set up an independent body to measure road quality and bring the entire NH network under road asset management system so that necessary repair work can be taken up on time.

Majority of the tasks identified by Modi have deadlines up to March 2019.

Considering congestion at check-posts, Modi wants states to computerise and integrate all such points besides using drones for monitoring efficiency.