Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday assured the independence of the Rail Development Authority for fixing of realistic fares.
The minister's assurance came while presenting the Railway Budget for 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha.
The formation of an independent authority was proposed last year.
The authority has been envisaged to enable fair pricing of services, promotion of competition, protection of customer interest and to maintain efficient standards.
The minister further elaborated that the draft bill for formation of the authority will be ready after holding extensive consultations with stakeholders.