The passenger fare hike proposed after a gap of 10 years might appear marginal for Union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, but in fact the fare would increase above 10 per cent even in the second class sleeper category on all long distance express trains.
As per the proposed revision, the passenger fare would be increased by five paise per km for express trains plying beyond 300 km.
For instance, a second-class sleeper ticket on Coimbatore- bound Cheran Express would increase at the rate of five paise per km to nearly Rs 257, which would be Rs 24.85 more than the existing Rs 232. The price revision would be exactly the same for Madurai-bound Pandian Express leaving Chennai Egmore.
Likewise, a class II sleeper ticket on Tirunelveli-bound Nellai Express from Chennai Egmore would cost approximately Rs 314.65 per head, Rs 32.65 more than the existing Rs 282.
The price revision is no different on Pearl City Express, where the existing passenger fare for Thoothukudi from Chennai is also Rs 282.
Curiously, trains would continue to be cheaper than buses in TN still. Even after tariff revision, passengers would only have to shell out Rs 314.65 to travel from Chennai to Tirunelveli in a sleeper class, while the same would cost Rs 440 in an ultra-deluxe state-run long distance bus without sleeper facility and bound to Tirunelveli.
However, passengers have their own complaints about the tariff hike. "We choose trains instead of buses because of the fare.
What will middle class people like us do if the tariff is increase by Rs 20 and above," complained Jayapandi, a native of Thoothukudi who travels to Chennai regularly.
However, SRMU general secretary N. Khanniah argued that the railway department would face a similar fate as that of Air India if the second sleeper and AC classes fares were not increased.
Reasoning that an upward revision of rail passenger was necessary to optimize quality of service, he, however, demanded a rollback in price of suburban and local services, which would directly hit the poor people a great deal.