Rail stocks rally on hike in passenger fare, freight rates

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Shares of companies engaged in railways-related businesses today rallied on the back of a hike in passenger fares and freight rates to improve finances of Indian Railways.

Cash-strapped railways has increased passenger fares by over 14% and the freight charges by over 6% and the move is expected to result in additional revenue mop-up of Rs 8,000 crore. The hike would come into effect from June 25.

Reacting to the development, shares of Kalindee Rail Nirman rose by about 2% to Rs 121.75, Texmaco Infrastructure by 3% at Rs 39.65 and Texmaco Rail Engineers by over 3% at to Rs 121 in morning trade on the BSE.

Titagarh Wagons also gained over 2% to Rs 320.25, while Simplex Castings rallied nearly 5% to Rs 53.3 and Container Corporation of India rose nearly 2% to Rs 1179.95.

The rail stocks have also been in focus in recent days on expectations of FDI being allowed in certain railways-related businesses. The gains seen today in rail stocks was in sharp contrast to the overall sluggishness in the market. The benchmark index Sensex was down 72 points at 25,033.48 in late morning trade.