In August 2013, the Cabinet had given an in-principle nod to set up the authority and sent a draft note to the railways, to be discussed with the law ministry.
Determination of rates will no longer be an exercise behind veils where the Railways and the users could only peep covertly at what was happening on the other side.
Presenting the Interim Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday announced that new trains will be introduced.
The railways are in the process of forming a Rail Tariff Authority but Bansal said the fare rise would be independent of the formation.
Independent, powerful tariff body the best medicine.
The Union government is reportedly considering doing away with the practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget.
The Budget and related appropriation bills were passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Passenger fares and freight rates were left untouched
Railways had earlier hiked the freight rate by 5.7 per cent in April while linking the fuel adjustment component with goods tariff. FAC is linked with fuel and energy prices and calculated accordingly.
To facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) in high- speed rail projects, the government is likely to allow private sector entry in operations.
The Union Cabinet will soon take a call on setting up Railway Development Authority of India, an independent regulator, which will decide on passenger and freight rates
Suresh Prabhu, the new railways minister, not only needs to save the railways from the clutches of bureaucracy and politics but also attract foreign investment to revive the once potent force.
Ministers may come and ministers may go but the attitude of the RB remains the same forever, and it is this group that really calls the shots in Indian Railways, says S Pushpavanam.
The Railway Budget has impressed industry watchers.
The focus is on tapping all resources, even foreign agencies.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
From Kudankulam to the Land Bill, the author takes the Twitter route to capture the infra action of 2013.
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