<p>Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi declined to go into the details of the railways' plans on revision of fares saying, "nothing has been decided as yet and it is just a thinking".<br /><br />Sources in the Railway Board, however, indicated that the proposed hike could be linked to the rising fuel costs which accounts for close to 18 per cent of its expenditure.<br /><br />But on an earlier occasion soon after taking over as Railway Minister in July, Trivedi had said a hike in passenger fares would be thought of without affecting the general class used by poor people.<br /><br />A proposal to align the freight and passenger fare with market prices was, in fact, made by the Railway Minister at the full Planning Commission meeting last month.<br /><br />The thinking in the railways on upward revision of fares comes against the backdrop of suggestions from the Planning Commission that a revision has not been touched for over eight years now.<br /><br />The railway finances are also not in a very comfortable position. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a recent report had noted that Railways was unable to meet its operation cost of passenger services and other coaching services.<br /><br />In 2008-09, the loss on operation of passenger and other coaching services stood at Rs. 15,268 crore. The loss in the previous fiscal was Rs.7,493 crore.<br /><br />All category of passenger services except AC chair car and AC 3-tier incurred losses in 2009-10.</p>
<p>Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi declined to go into the details of the railways' plans on revision of fares saying, "nothing has been decided as yet and it is just a thinking".<br /><br />Sources in the Railway Board, however, indicated that the proposed hike could be linked to the rising fuel costs which accounts for close to 18 per cent of its expenditure.<br /><br />But on an earlier occasion soon after taking over as Railway Minister in July, Trivedi had said a hike in passenger fares would be thought of without affecting the general class used by poor people.<br /><br />A proposal to align the freight and passenger fare with market prices was, in fact, made by the Railway Minister at the full Planning Commission meeting last month.<br /><br />The thinking in the railways on upward revision of fares comes against the backdrop of suggestions from the Planning Commission that a revision has not been touched for over eight years now.<br /><br />The railway finances are also not in a very comfortable position. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a recent report had noted that Railways was unable to meet its operation cost of passenger services and other coaching services.<br /><br />In 2008-09, the loss on operation of passenger and other coaching services stood at Rs. 15,268 crore. The loss in the previous fiscal was Rs.7,493 crore.<br /><br />All category of passenger services except AC chair car and AC 3-tier incurred losses in 2009-10.</p>