theking 35 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 NDTV.com & Press Trust of India Friday, February 24, 2006 (New Delhi): Unveiling the Railway Budget for 2006-07, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav slashed upper class fares on Friday. Yadav announced a reduction in fares of AC first class by 18 per cent and AC second class by 10 per cent. Passenger tariff structure will be rationalised so that that the fares of AC first class and AC second class will be 11.5 times and 6.5 times the second class fares respectively, he said. A fully air-conditioned Garib Rath will be run on a pilot basis with four pairs of services. The fares of this train will be about 25 per cent lower than present AC-III tier fares. Renewal period of monthly season tickets (MSTs) has been increased from three days to ten days. The superfast charges applicable on MSTs and quarterly season tickets (QSTs) have been reduced to one-fourth of the current level. Yadav also proposed that tariff fixation mechanism for military traffic will be rationalised and simplified. Freight rates Prasad said there will be no across-the-board increase in freight rates and rationalisation of goods traffic will continue further. The number of commodities groups will be reduced from 80 to 28. With lowering of the highest class to 220, freight rates of diesel and petrol will be less by eight per cent. Over the next three years, the highest class to be lowered below 200 and rates for the highest classification are proposed to be made less than double that of the lowest classification (except rates of some light commodities). New lines Yadav also announced that Railways proposes to complete over 550 kms of new lines in eight sections. He said the new lines are Bikramganj-Sasaram, Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi, Keojhar-Daitari, Sakri-Biraul, Manu-Agartala, Hathua-Bathua Bazar, Udhampur-Katra, Qazignd-Badgam and Karimnagar- Jagityal. With the completion of these sections, the new line projects of Ara-Sasaram, Muzaffarpur-Sitarmarhi, Daitari-Banaspani and Kumarghat-Agartala would be fully completed, he added. Prasad said during the year a target of completion of over 1100 kms has been fixed in 14 sections. These are Jayanagar-Darbhanga, Senchoa-Silghat, Katihar-Barsoi, Ajmer-Chhitaurgarh, Kinvat-Mudkhed, Sonamukhi- Rainagar, Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur, Attur-Salem, Mailaduturai- Villupuram, Puddukotai-Karaikudi, Basavanabagewadi-Bagalkot, Mysore-Chamrajnagar, Neemuch-Ratlam and Samakhiali-Gandhidham. Pricing policy Prasad said dynamic pricing policy for freight introduced during the current year would be extended also to passengers for peak and non-peak seasons, premium and non-premium services and for busy and non-busy routes. Non-peak season incremental freight discount scheme has been launched with discounts upto 30 per cent during non-peak season and 20 per cent in the peak season. Loyalty discount scheme to encourage transportation of cement and iron and steel by rail will be launched along with long-term freight discount scheme to attract new customers and freight traffic. Mini rake and two-point rake scheme will be made available both in peak and non-peak season and a new freight forwarder scheme for freight of over 700 kms will be launched. Freight target Prasad announced a freight loading target at 726 million tonnes and freight output at 479 btkms. Revenues in freight, passenger, other coaching and earning segments has been pegged to be Rs 40,320 crore, Rs 16,800 crore, Rs 1,400 crore and Rs 1,308 crore respectively. Gross traffic receipts (GTRs) have been estimated at Rs 59,978 crore and ordinary working expenses at Rs 38,300 crore. Appropriation to Pension Fund and Depreciation Reserve Fund will be Rs 7,790 crore and Rs 4,307 crore respectively. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arun 795 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 Good one by Laloo this time, much needed budget for Indian railways when air travel is becoming cheaper these days Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SexyGurl 0 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 Lalu Bhaiya has been much much better than all Railway ministers, in atleast past 10 years. He's much more market oriented than past "Railway CEOs" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rajat8676 0 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 Cheers to Laloo for excellent Rail Budget. Wish Laloo had put the same intelligence and competitiveness in Bihar.... Patna would have given a run for its money to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deepu 0 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 15 new trains to Bihar!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted February 24, 2006 Ya its a good rail budget, but sad to hear that AC 3 Tier fares still not reduced. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
