"It has been nearly a decade that rail fares were not increased. It had to be increased for betterment of the Railways and for the sake of providing world class services to the passengers," state BJP president Rahul Sinha said.
Sinha said the decision to hike the railway fare and freight charges were taken during the UPA tenure.
In one of the biggest hikes, the cash-strapped Railways last week raised passenger fares by 14.2 per cent for all classes and increased freight rates by 6.5 per cent to garner an annual Rs 8,000 crore through a pre-budget decision.