Review AC fares while ensuring ‘general class’ travel remains affordable: Parliament panel to railways – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Railways should “review” the AC class fares in trains to reduce revenue loss in passenger segment while ensuring that “general class” travel must remain affordable, the parliamentary standing committee on railways has recommended. The recommendation has been made observing a huge gap in revenue from passenger and freight segments, impacting railway finances.
Taking note of the budget estimates of Rs 80,000 crore revenue from passenger segment for 2024–25 compared to freight revenue estimates of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, the panel headed by BJP MP C M Ramesh has said there is a need to make a comprehensive review of its passenger fares in different trains and classes. It said that in order to increase net revenues of, railways needs to increase its earnings from the passenger segment.
“Committee feels that ‘general class’ travel must remain affordable for the masses but at the same time the committee urges Indian Railways to review its revenues with regard to AC classes by aligning it with costs incurred to reduce losses in the passenger segment. The Committee also urged Indian Railways to conduct a comprehensive review of its operating expenses for passenger trains and to rationalise these costs to ensure affordability of its ticket prices,” said the report submitted to both the Houses of Parliament on Friday.
The railway ministry has maintained that Rs 56,993 crore is given as concession every year to all categories of passengers, with a 46% discount on every ticket, to rule out any plan for restoring concessions to senior citizens. Sources said review of passenger fare even in the AC category won’t be an easy task for govt.
Observing the railways’ revenue losses on categories such as catering services, the panel said this must be eliminated on priority basis. It has also urged the ministry to take steps to provide quality food at competitive prices and simultaneously aim to reduce social service obligations on account of catering services.