Rail Budget: Petrol/diesel freight rates cut

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced a 5% reducion in the freight  rate for petrol and diesel and a 14% reduction for fly ash. The freight rates for petrol and diesel have been reduced by 17% in the last three years.

The minister's main aim in this budget - as in the previous ones - has been to rationalise freight rates to increase buoyancy in volumes that would result in increased revenue earnings.

Prasad said the freight structure had been extensively rationalised in the last three years. "Earlier, we had announced that barring some light commodities, the difference between the highest rates and the lowest rates would not be more than two times. Now, concluding this process of rationalisation, we have reduced the highest class from class 210 to 200," said Prasad.

The railways have estimated revenue earnings of Rs 52,700 crore for 2008-09 - an increase of 10.38% on the revised earnings estimate for the current fiscal of Rs 47,743 crore. This would come from a 7.5% increase in tonnage to be carried - target 850 million tonne in 2008-9 when compared with the revised estimate of 790 million tonne for 2007-8. The revised revenue estimate for the current year was up 1.7% compared to the budget estimates which stood at Rs 46,943 crore.