INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - FEBRUARY 16^th - FEBRUARY 29^st - 2008

REDUCTION IN PASSENGER FARES ANNOUNCED

The Minister of Railways, Shri Lalu Prasad has announced reduction in passenger fares of various classes while introducing the Railway Budget for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha.

There will be a reduction of one rupee in the second-class fares of up to rupees fifty for non-suburban mail/express and ordinary passenger trains. The second-class fares of all mail/express and ordinary trains will be reduced by 5% for the tickets costing more than fifty rupees per passenger to benefit long distance passengers. The Railway Minister also announced a reduction in the fares for newly designed Sleeper Class coaches by 2%.

Fare reduction by 2% for the newly designed AC 3 tier and AC Chair Car coaches has also been announced. This reduction will be only half for popular trains and during the peak period.

To make the fares for higher classes more competitive, the Railway Minister announced reduction of fares for AC-I class by 7% and AC-2 tier by 4%. This reduction would only be half for popular trains and during the peak period. With this reduction, the process of rationalization of AC class fares has now been completed.