Is Railway Fare Hike Justified?

Kaustubh Katdare · 2014-06-21T17:54:34+00:00

The Modi Sarkar in India has raised the railway fare hike by 14.2% and everyone's questioning the government's move. I read up a bit and found out that the Indian Railways have been making a loss to the tunes of Rs. 29,000 crore annually only on the passenger trains and the fare hike would fix that loss just by Rs. 11,000 crore. Which means, the Indian railways are far from being profitable. If the railways want to offer quality services, hassle free booking and seat to every passenger who demands it, I think they'll have to figure out ways to be profitable; and that won't be possible unless the passengers are willing to pay more. This model has worked in all the parts of the world, but India. Now, one more view is that you can't burden the people who are already suffering from break-neck inflation. The possible way to fix this situation without burdening the people seems to be bringing back the black money stashed in foreign banks and then use it for people welfare and make the railways self-sustaining. My personal view is that you can't expect to revive an 'almost dead' horse in just a few days and expect it to perform in the race. You've gotta spend some money in making the horse capable of getting on its feet and then expect it to run. What are your views?

Is Railway Fare Hike Justified?

Kaustubh Katdare
@thebigk

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Views: 1.2K

The Modi Sarkar in India has raised the railway fare hike by 14.2% and everyone's questioning the government's move. I read up a bit and found out that the Indian Railways have been making a loss to the tunes of Rs. 29,000 crore annually only on the passenger trains and the fare hike would fix that loss just by Rs. 11,000 crore. Which means, the Indian railways are far from being profitable.

If the railways want to offer quality services, hassle free booking and seat to every passenger who demands it, I think they'll have to figure out ways to be profitable; and that won't be possible unless the passengers are willing to pay more. This model has worked in all the parts of the world, but India.

Now, one more view is that you can't burden the people who are already suffering from break-neck inflation. The possible way to fix this situation without burdening the people seems to be bringing back the black money stashed in foreign banks and then use it for people welfare and make the railways self-sustaining.

My personal view is that you can't expect to revive an 'almost dead' horse in just a few days and expect it to perform in the race. You've gotta spend some money in making the horse capable of getting on its feet and then expect it to run.

What are your views?

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Satya Swaroop Dash

Member • Jun 21, 2014

These hikes in railway fares were long due. The past UPA 2 government has not hiked the fares in the last two years’ railway budgets. This move of hiking the railway fares might not work as effectively as possible in reviving the economic status of the Indian Railways but something is better than nothing.

......be possible unless the passengers are willing to pay more. This model has worked in all the parts of the world, but India.
As you have pointed out above charging more for better services has never worked in India because railways has been the common man’s means of transport. I live near a small railway station in the city and every morning I see daily wage labourers from all parts of the state use local trains to get to the city. Every other middle class family had booked railway tickets for summer vacation trips. No other country has a more extensive railway network than ours and as compared to US or UK where buses also serve as affordable means of long distance travel India cannot rely on the same because of the terrible condition of most roads.

......be bringing back the black money stashed in foreign banks and then use it for people welfare and make the railways self-sustaining.
The idea of bringing back black money is quite far-fetched as the Swiss banks are quite reluctant in disclosing details of depositors and the country’s financial laws allow these activities. It’s not just money from India that in these backs illegally people from most developed countries also do the same.

The best way for Indian Railway to recover money is to allow advertisers place ads both inside and outside the trains. Think of the thousands of trains running in the country, advertisers would love to pay huge amounts of money to get some ad space on these trains. Increasing the number of ads on stations shall also help. I know that this would somehow look tacky but think of how effective it will be.

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Anoop Mathew

Member • Jun 21, 2014

Satya Swaroop Dash
The best way for Indian Railway to recover money is to allow advertisers place ads both inside and outside the trains. Think of the thousands of trains running in the country, advertisers would love to pay huge amounts of money to get some ad space on these trains. Increasing the number of ads on stations shall also help. I know that this would somehow look tacky but think of how effective it will be.
What kind of trains are we talking about here? There are already Ads seen on many a train these days, what more is required? Is it because companies don't come up for advertisement/or just limited carriages of a train are up for such displays?

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Satya Swaroop Dash

Member • Jun 21, 2014

Anoop Mathew
What kind of trains are we talking about here? There are already Ads seen on many a train these days, what more is required? Is it because companies don't come up for advertisement/or just limited carriages of a train are up for such displays?

Yes you are right ads like these can be found on trains but not all trains have these kinds of ads. I was at the Bhubaneswar city station just yesterday and I could not find ads on any major long distance trains such as Rajdhani and Konark Express. There is a need now for the government to make sure that they are able to show companies that railways are an excellent means of advertising.

The local city bus service has managed to keep the bus fares to a reasonable thanks to this tactic.

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Kaustubh Katdare

Administrator • Jun 21, 2014

There are few more steps the government should have ordered - that is going on an austerity drive and ensuring that the black money is bought back as soon as possible. I think they're already working on that front.

The ads are okay and they'll generate additional revenue; but I doubt they'll be able to offer any substantial help.

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