Railways raked in Rs 70.66 crore in 4 days before partial roll-back in

Railways has collected a total of Rs 70.66 crore from suburban commuters by way of seasonal ticket sales, triggered by a more than two-fold hike in train fares, in the last four days.

The government had on June 20 announced a steep hike in suburban train fares, which was later partially rolled back. According to Central Railways, it collected Rs 30.84 crore in the last four days, while Western Railways collected Rs 39.82 crore between June 20 and June 24.

As the new fares were to be applicable from today, Mumbaikars rushed to buy season tickets fearing over 100% increase in fares post-revision.

However, bowing to mounting pressure from various quarters, the union government eventually exempted second class suburban travel upto 80 km from the 14.2% hike and reduced the severity of hike for monthly season ticket-holders.