Did you know that railways bear almost half of your travel cost?

If you think that train journey in India are too heavy on your pockets, it’s about time you know that Indian railways bear almost half of the cost of your train travel.

This is because if the tariffs are increased according to the costs and subsidies are done away with, it could cost the railways a lot, politically.
This cross-subsidising of passenger fares leads to the railways incurring a loss of Rs 30,000 crore every year.

Suresh Prabhu has been taking good care of the Indian railways ever since he has joined as the minister of railways, and was expected to revise passenger fares so that it can be brought out of the financial mess.

However, he seems to have opted for a "politically safe" path, leaving the job for the rail development authority, which is yet to be set up.

"Whenever you raise fares, there are more questions raised than the rise. Therefore, we are trying to create a new mechanism whereby there will be a proper system that will be put in place (for revising fares)," Prabhu was quoted saying.

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