Hike in railway fare likely to make flying an attractive option

[V.Balasubramani]

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Hike in railway fare likely to make flying an attractive option -Economic Times

MUMBAI: The gap between rail and air fares will narrow further after the 14.2% rail tariff hike on June 25, an event that could encourage some railway passengers to shift to air travel.

The fare increase announced on Friday is being seen as part of the "bitter medicine" measures which prime minister Narendra Modi said will have to be administered to revive the economy, which fell to its slowest growth rate in a decade, earlier this year.

While airline tickets will still be at ..

Read more at:
Hike in railway fare likely to make flying an attractive option - The Economic Times

 

[Brahmanyan]

Hike in railway fare likely to make flying an attractive option.

Though it is an accepted fact our Railway fares are lowest, the BJP Government need not have rushed to increase the fares and freight proposed by the previous Congress Budget. The reasons given for the increase are the same repeated for year after year by the Railway Ministers. This shows the lack of application on the part of the Ministry before placing for approval of the increase. The Government knows that any increase in freight will trigger inflation. They could have waited and taken counter measures to contain inflation before accepting the increase.

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[vignesh2014]

Only way i can tell you is stop following the western way of life ...just have only the necessities and comforts and not convert luxuries into necessities and comforts. Now due global warming A/c has become inevitable...buying water for money has become inevitable...every cheap labour also has become costly labour due to increase in labour wages...Middle class is the only one who is affected by all types of western created problems...that's why very poor or very rich are not able to realize the problems. The foremost thing is a very slow poison will not appear as poison ..when we reach old age we will think , we have died out of old age (even though medical revolution has taken place, number of people dieing at agonising condition due to cancer , sugar and other perennial diseases are not stopped ...just like the way a camel is thinking by eating kalli chedi as tasty even though blood is coming , we have become generally accustomed to all sorts of troubles created by western way of life.In this forum , people hardly take notice of all these and the way people are dying due to hunger, heat or cold or due to over crowding in trains or buses or in traffic are all taken as mundane happenings. we have become reclined to our fate rather than thinking of changing any of the happenings since we lack support and unity in the midst of us for any of these problems because not all problems are affecting everybody. Politicians and Administrators always use the divide and rule policy favouring a major section or a particular section for benefit of anything so that their vote banks are not affected and covering all maladies in their rhetoric and epoch speech. In western countries also they give promise and never fulfill but if we spread our eastern values as the way they spread western values in other world countries, all countries would have become much better. Here if i say all these, there will be countless debates only because of our nature.If i say that it is due to our gene characteristics (debating always),for this also everybody will start debating without coming to any conclusion.

 

[tbs]

hi

without service.....these increase will not work....provide 100% service in railway...then price increase is okay.....with out service

service charges are collected in india...give better facilities..ppl are ready to pay...

 

[dhikshita]

Only way i can tell you is stop following the western way of life ...just have only the necessities and comforts and not convert luxuries into necessities and comforts. Now due global warming A/c has become inevitable...buying water for money has become inevitable...every cheap labour also has become costly labour due to increase in labour wages...Middle class is the only one who is affected by all types of western created problems...that's why very poor or very rich are not able to realize the problems. The foremost thing is a very slow poison will not appear as poison ..when we reach old age we will think , we have died out of old age (even though medical revolution has taken place, number of people dieing at agonising condition due to cancer , sugar and other perennial diseases are not stopped ...just like the way a camel is thinking by eating kalli chedi as tasty even though blood is coming , we have become generally accustomed to all sorts of troubles created by western way of life.In this forum , people hardly take notice of all these and the way people are dying due to hunger, heat or cold or due to over crowding in trains or buses or in traffic are all taken as mundane happenings. we have become reclined to our fate rather than thinking of changing any of the happenings since we lack support and unity in the midst of us for any of these problems because not all problems are affecting everybody. Politicians and Administrators always use the divide and rule policy favouring a major section or a particular section for benefit of anything so that their vote banks are not affected and covering all maladies in their rhetoric and epoch speech. In western countries also they give promise and never fulfill but if we spread our eastern values as the way they spread western values in other world countries, all countries would have become much better. Here if i say all these, there will be countless debates only because of our nature.If i say that it is due to our gene characteristics (debating always),for this also everybody will start debating without coming to any conclusion.

Dear Vignesh

Regarding the hike in the railway fare, my views are as follows:

Don’t forget that under the British Rule only India got implementation of railway system which is considered to be the second largest Employer of the World. I support the increase in the railway fare to some extent, though not 14.2% as expected to be announced. I feel an increase of 10% over and above the existing railway fare may be nominal and would pave way for lot of developmental activities on par with western countries. People have no other way except to bear the burden to some extent. Generally there has been an increase in the per capita income among the working group. Of course, we could not overcome the poverty because of increase in the population which India had failed in implementing the family planning scheme or demography.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Railway fare hike: 'Shocked' AAP says people feel cheated by BJP – Economic Times


NEW DELHI: Voicing its outrage over the government's decision to hike railway passenger fares and freight charges, the Aam Aadmi Party today said the common man of the country felt "cheated" today as the BJP had promised to bring down prices and help them get rid of hardships.

"AAP is shocked over the steep hike in passenger fares and freight charges announced by the Railways Ministry. This happens to be the second hike in eight mont ..


Read more at:
Railway fare hike: 'Shocked' AAP says people feel cheated by BJP - The Economic Times

 

[dhikshita]

Railway fare hike: 'Shocked' AAP says people feel cheated by BJP – Economic Times


NEW DELHI: Voicing its outrage over the government's decision to hike railway passenger fares and freight charges, the Aam Aadmi Party today said the common man of the country felt "cheated" today as the BJP had promised to bring down prices and help them get rid of hardships.

"AAP is shocked over the steep hike in passenger fares and freight charges announced by the Railways Ministry. This happens to be the second hike in eight mont ..


Read more at:
Railway fare hike: 'Shocked' AAP says people feel cheated by BJP - The Economic Times

VB

I am sharing my views as follows:

People want railway services to their village or to their nearest points. The work connected to reaching that village by railway track would be a Himalayan Task drawing different agencies. The land acquisition process costs delay, litigation besides huge compensation. Rail transport is cheaper than any other mode of transport for common a man. The railway fare was not hiked for a long time. But it was on the card of the then Rly.Minister. Now the Union Railway Minister, took the reign and hiked it for providing better service and facilities to the public.

 

[auh]

AAP is a party that critizes for the sake of criticism, for the sake of publicity and to display their solidarity with the masses. It need not be taken seriously.

But yes, as said in #4 above, service in railways is abysmal. Cleanliness, hygiene, security and comfort should be of paramount importance.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

\


Source: The Hindu dt:23.06.2014

 

[vgane]

Air tickets are cheapest when you buy 3 months of travel date, in advance..When you buy it say 1 week before it doubles & if you buy 1 day before it quadruples

 

[vgane]

I think the time has come to privatise the railways..Look at the changes in airports after they got privatized

To begin with stations can be privatized...Maintenance which is currently a den of corruption can be privatized

People want world class facilities

We need a change in approach..

But it is not easy in India where we expect the Railways to patronize the poor and marginalized

 

[Brahmanyan]

Hike in railway fare likely to make flying an attractive option.

Sunday edition of The New Indian Express (June 22, 2014) Bangalore carries an interesting analysis of initial steps taken by Modi Sarkar to contain inflationary tendencies which are avoidable "series of needless, self-engineered controversies" according to columnist By Shankkar Aiyar, which echos the thoughts of well wishers of Mr Modi. I would suggest our members to read the same available in the following weblink:


Inflationary Expectations Meet Deflationary Realities - The New Indian Express

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Sir,

The former Railway Board Chief Mr. J.P. Badra has justified fare, freight rates hike on the ground that it is very much required for the railways financial health. He added that this increase is required to improve safety, for modernization as well as improving the passenger amenities.

But the question of general public is:

1) Will the Government improve the safety measures and ensure safe travel to passengers?
2) Will modernize the Railways and its system?
3) Will improve passenger amenities viz Provision of Bed rolls, Catering facilities, Medical Assistance, Improving the standard of Waiting Rooms, Provision of more self-help trolleys,etc
4) It is reported that projects initiated long back are pending for more than several years and are yet to complete
5) There are unmanned level crossings, crossings which are crying for attention for provision of either bridge/subway, etc

We are left with no option except to wait and watch.

 

[sarang]

It is too early to judge the performance of modi government. In the interest of good fiscal administration, jayalalitha increased fare in public transport soon after she assumed office. In gujarat too, when modi stopped free power to farmers, increased tariff, eliminated power theft by medium and large farmers, there was hue and cry as if small farmers were robbed of their livelihood. In the end, power consumption stabilized, small farmers got uninterrupted power at higher cost but with higher reliability, and all the three services, generation, distribution and maintenance became profitable in a short span. The three services were made independent corporations. Let us hope railways too benefit from this and other steps planned - foreign investment, privatization and modernization.

Micro analysis of every statement and uttering of junior and senior ministers will be the norm for the media; the ministers must learn to keep media (which is mostly hostile) at an arm's length and leave it to trained spokespersons instead of making off the cuff statements when a camera is thrust in front. Hope they learn from modi.

Modi will be relying on efficient bureaucrats for fast and effective implementation of policies and projects. When all pundits pointed out that modi and nda will not have the numbers for forming a government, he said - this time it will not be mathematics, it will be chemistry. Inflation will come down and will sustain only when all sectors - agriculture, manufacture, transport, power and other services become strong and self sufficient. To link inflation to just transport costs is a very narrow view, in my opinion.

Permission to raise the height of narmada dam was delayed by nine years by manmohan singh. He did not allow the gates to be fitted even though concreting was complete. It will take another 30 months to fit the gates. Estimated loss due to this delay is rs. 45000 crores, more than the project cost of the dam. I believe, whatever steps have been identified to improve railways have to be implemented from day one - that is what modi sarkar is doing.

Sunday edition of The New Indian Express (June 22, 2014) Bangalore carries an interesting analysis of initial steps taken by Modi Sarkar to contain inflationary tendencies which are avoidable "series of needless, self-engineered controversies" according to columnist By Shankkar Aiyar, which echos the thoughts of well wishers of Mr Modi. I would suggest our members to read the same available in the following weblink:


Inflationary Expectations Meet Deflationary Realities - The New Indian Express

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Despite fare hike, Railways need to be merged into govt fisc- The Financial Express

Summary - It costs the Indian Railways Rs 2 to earn Re 1 from a passenger.

Despite the surprise of a steep increase in fares on Friday afternoon, there is little chance with this sort of earning, it can finance any of the massive projects announced in the President’s speech to Parliament.

To do any of those, even with foreign funding, Rail Bhawan is instead banking on Pranab Mukherjee’s assurance that “investment in Railways will be increased using innovative financing methods”.

The first thing they would like to do as “innovation” is to scrap an 89-year-old model under which the Railway finances are kept separate from Government of India finances. It was a British plan rolled out in 1924 based on the Acworth Committee report of 1921.

Read more: Despite fare hike, Railways need to be merged into govt fisc - Financial Express

 

[CHANDRU1849]

The ruling govt's justification that it was planned by earlier govt. is not proper.

The govt. argues that in order to increase the standard, increase is inevitable. However, the additional income to be generated due to this increase will be around Rs.8,000 Cr. It remains to be seen how the service will be increased by the proposed addl. income.

If at ll increase is necessary, it should have been restricted to AC classes only.

 

[sarang]

This suggestion is also in the air. Why a separate railway budget? To be clubbed with the main budget.

Despite fare hike, Railways need to be merged into govt fisc- The Financial Express

Summary - It costs the Indian Railways Rs 2 to earn Re 1 from a passenger.

Despite the surprise of a steep increase in fares on Friday afternoon, there is little chance with this sort of earning, it can finance any of the massive projects announced in the President’s speech to Parliament.

To do any of those, even with foreign funding, Rail Bhawan is instead banking on Pranab Mukherjee’s assurance that “investment in Railways will be increased using innovative financing methods”.

The first thing they would like to do as “innovation” is to scrap an 89-year-old model under which the Railway finances are kept separate from Government of India finances. It was a British plan rolled out in 1924 based on the Acworth Committee report of 1921.

Read more: Despite fare hike, Railways need to be merged into govt fisc - Financial Express

 

[vgane]

Sunday edition of The New Indian Express (June 22, 2014) Bangalore carries an interesting analysis of initial steps taken by Modi Sarkar to contain inflationary tendencies which are avoidable "series of needless, self-engineered controversies" according to columnist By Shankkar Aiyar, which echos the thoughts of well wishers of Mr Modi. I would suggest our members to read the same available in the following weblink:


Inflationary Expectations Meet Deflationary Realities - The New Indian Express

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

Sri Brahmanyan,

NaMo should be ready for tongue lashing by the ultra leftists and pseudo secularists!

But the fact of the matter is the increases have not gone down well with the masses!

Hope the bitter medicine will soon be followed by sweet announcements!! (The expectation from Budget are sky high! Not sure how NaMo is going to manage that!)

 

[sarang]

None of the 60 odd signatories who signed the petition to US president, have won in the recent election! They will not hesitate to seek the help of taliban or ISIS to incite a civil war.

Sri Brahmanyan,

NaMo should be ready for tongue lashing by the ultra leftists and pseudo secularists!

But the fact of the matter is the increases have not gone down well with the masses!

Hope the bitter medicine will soon be followed by sweet announcements!! (The expectation from Budget are sky high! Not sure how NaMo is going to manage that!)

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Train fare hike: RSS taken aback by the timing of the decision; says will not interfere as Narendra Modi has a vision – The Economic Times.

NEW DELHI: Tough economic decisions are never really politically palatable, the across-the-board hike in railway fares has been one such decision. While the BJP has been supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party and the larger Sangh Parivar, including the RSS, have been taken aback by the timing of the decision. According to top sources in the RSS, there has been a bit of a worry over the blowback of this decision on the government, though the basic premise of it has been unquestioned.


Read More: Train fare hike: RSS taken aback by the timing of the decision; says will not interfere as Narendra Modi has a vision - The Economic Times

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Rail stocks cheer fare hike – Business Standard.

Nearly Rs 9,000 cr in additional revenue railways make from increased fares will translate into orders for firms involved in rail infrastructure biz

Railway stocks were up post the opening bell on Monday, reacting to news which came after market hours last week on an increase in passenger and freight rates.

It is expected that nearly Rs 9,000 crore in additional revenue that the railways make from the increased fares, will translate into orders for firms which are involved in the rail infrastructure business.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Titagarh Wagons and Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) all ended with gains between 1.4% to 3%. Railway stocks were up 0.38% on average.

In comparison, the BSE"s Sensex, whose movements are held to be representative of how the market is doing; was down 0.3%.

Prateek Agarwal, chief investment officer, ASK Investment Managers said that recent announcements on the fare hike have been seen as a positive by the market.

"There is a lot of optimism on the railway budget"," he said.

Jitendra Panda, chief executive at Peerless Securities said that the market expects the additional revenue to be utilized for improving its infrastructure, which would have a direct impact on the amount of business that these companies do.


Read more: Rail stocks cheer fare hike | Business Standard News

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Rail fare hike: BJP, Sena MPs from Maharashtra meet Gowda

New Delhi: Worried over the possible adverse political fallout of the steep hike in rail fares, BJP and Shiv Sena MPs from Maharashtra on Tuesday met Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda.

The MPs have reasons to be worried as Assembly polls are due in the state in a few months. While the Sena-BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls and remain confident of good showing in state polls, the hike in rail fares has left them worried, especially about their fortunes in Mumbai where local train fares is an emotive issue.
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BJP leader and leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council, Vinod Tawde, had earlier said, "A season pass which cost Rs 115 will now cost Rs 330", adding that commuters feel this hike was "unjust and huge".

The Shiv Sena has also come out strongly against the move. An editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna said, "Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda has in the first instance brought a steep fare hike and has run the train over the common man."

“The new government should now introspect how it hurled abuses at the previous Congress regime and honestly work towards improving the efficiency of the railways,” the editorial said.


Read more: Rail fare hike BJP Sena MPs from Maharashtra to meet Gowda

 

[vgane]

Looks like the rail hike may be modulated in phases!

 

[narayanan.a]

Though many reasons for the raise have been attributed, definitely its not good for BJP Govt.
Must reconsider the raise.

 

[sarang]

Shiv Sena has the habit of shouting first and then capitulating. Opposed modi's nomination, bjp manifesto, modi's speech in Mumbai and many such foot in the mouth words.