You may soon have to pay more for safer trains

Railways has decided to increase passenger fares for raising its resources in order to create a special safety fund. The proposal for total grant of funds for creation of the same has been rejected by the Finance Ministry, sources said. According to the new plan, a safety cess will be levied to generate funds for strengthening track and upgrading signalling system and elimination of unmanned level crossings among other safety-related works to prevent mishaps.

Earlier, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking Rs 1,19,183 crore to create the special Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh for undertaking various safety works. Sources said the proposal has not been accepted by the Finance Ministry which has asked railways to raise its own funds by increasing fares.

The Finance Ministry has, however, agreed to provide 25 per cent of the total amount required for creating the special safety fund.

“Though, the Railway Minister is not in favour of raising fares at this juncture when passenger bookings are falling and fares of AC-2 and AC-1 are already on higher side, the reluctance of Finance Ministry to provide a bail-out package has left the minister with no option,” a source said.

According to the plan, the cess on Sleeper, Second Class and AC-3 will be higher while it will be marginal for AC-2 and AC-1. Though, a final decision in this regard is yet to be taken and modalities are still being worked out, sources said.