Jana Shatabdi superfast trains to be launched

Launch of new superfast second class 'Jana Shatabdi' inter-city trains is expected to be announced in the Railway Budget that would also raise second class passenger fares by 7-10 per cent but contain no new rail projects.

Practically every major state in the country will get one or two Jana Shatabdi inter-city train, which will run at the same speed (160 km/hr) of Shatabdi Express but with a difference that most coaches would be second class and non-air conditioned.

These will be part of about 50 new trains to be announced in the Railway Budget to be presented on February 26, official sources said, adding Jana Shatabdi fares will include meals just as in present Shatbadi Express.

The Budget is also expected to carry out for the first time a major exercise of "rationalisation" of freight and passenger fares to begin the phase out of cross-subsidisation that cost the Railways Rs 35 billion annually, the sources said.

The second class fares of Jana Shatabdi Express will be higher than the ordinary second class fares. The new trains being 'day' trains connecting two cities in various parts of the country will only have seats and no sleepers.

Backed by recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan Committee, which went into the issue of restructuring the Railways, the Budget will nearly double the allocation for completing the 'last-mile' projects.

It is also expected to come out with guidelines for clearance of new projects to ensure no state is allocated projects on the basis of political expediency.

The Budget will have no new projects, and will have several cost-cutting measures, the sources said.

The second class suburban passenger fares are also to be hiked marginally. Mumbai suburban passengers would be most affected by the measure as they account for a large chunk of the 13-million passengers carried by railways in a day.

Rakesh Mohan Committee's five-year time-table to phase out passenger fare subsidisation at the cost of freight might not be fully adhered to as it had suggested a steep 20 per cent hike in second class passenger fares every year, the sources said, adding such drastic actions could not be taken though the Budget might contain hard decisions.

Also the second-class passenger fares would be increased in such a way that long distance fares would go up seven per cent while short distance fares would be hiked 10 per cent so that common man do not feel the pinch.

As the growth of three-tier and two-tier airconditioned second class traffic was on the decline because of the competition from airlines due to steep fares, the Budget is unlikely to hike their fares as part of rationalisation process. Besides more AC three-tier coaches are to be added to superfast trains.

It is expected to hike freight tariff on highly subsidised commodities like foodgrains, salt and fertilizers but slash it on steel and petro products to rationalise rates.

Official sources said while passenger fare hike might yield additional revenue of Rs 10 billion, the freight re-structuring could net Rs 2 to 2.50 billion.

With the balancing of freight fares, the Budget may peg the freight traffic for the next fiscal at 525 million tones as against 500 million tonnes in the current year.

PTI

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