Nitish Kumar has attempted what none of his predecessors had dared. Against the normal practice of taxing rich customers to cross-subsidise the poor, the Railway Budget for 2002-03 has kept the fares of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains untouched, while raising the charges for second class services.
But it is not that these super-fast trains catering to the upper classes of society are getting a special treatment.
The cost of travelling by AC First Class by Rajdhani had become nearly equal to the economy class of airlines. Considering the special excursion fares and night charges, the cost of travelling by air actually works out to be cheaper for certain sectors.
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A Delhi-Mumbai ticket on the night service of Air-India costs less than Rs 4,000, while the Rajdhani fare is Rs 4,180. Similarly, for the Delhi-Ahmedabad sector, an Air-India night ticket costs just Rs 3,330, while the Rajdhani AC First Class ticket would come for Rs 3,410.
Even if a comparison is made with the regular air fares of these sectors, the difference is not significant for the high-end customers. An economy class Delhi-Mumbai ticket in Indian Airlines costs Rs 5,405 while Jet charges Rs 6,095. The travel time by air is just two hours, as compared to 18 hours by Rajdhani.
As many as 20 Shatabdi and 10 Rajdhani trains of the Railways have witnessed a sharp decrease in passenger load and revenues in the first eight months of the current year.
The decline is the highest (30 per cent) in case of the Mumbai-Pune Shatabdi.
The Railways have announced 16 pairs of