Reforming Railways

Passenger fare hike does not go far enough

Indian Railways announced on Tuesday an increase in the base price of passenger travel across its network, except on the suburban segment. The fare hike is not enormous — one paise per kilometre for ordinary, non-air conditioned classes in non-express trains, reaching up to four paise per kilometre in the air-conditioned classes. For tickets, therefore, even in top of the line trains, such as the Rajdhani, the additional payment will usually be less than ~100. Season ticket holders will also see no increase in fares. While there may well be some grumbling about this increase, the fact is that it