It has been a “decade of degradation” for the Indian Railways, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, criticising the Union government over five issues — rising ticket prices, reduction in number of non-AC coaches, falling train speeds, imperiling rail safety, and deteriorating overall finances.
Mr. Ramesh in a long post on X on Sunday said the average price per passenger per kilometre has registered a 107% increase “from 0.32/passenger-km in 2013-14 to 0.66/passenger-km”. For the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) decade, he pointed out that the increase was only 33%. “We must credit the Modi government for coming up with so many different ways to extort India’s people,” Mr. Ramesh said.
He listed out “fake superfast surcharges”, “senior citizen concessions withdrawal”, “dynamic pricing fraud” and “long extensions of so-called ‘special’ trains” as factors contributing to this hike. Mr. Ramesh said, “In a move that requires a special kind of cruelty, the Modi government withdrew rail ticket concessions for senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Senior citizens who may be relying on trains for pilgrimage, to visit their children, or to avail medical treatment, are now being charged much higher fares. In the 3 years since this policy, over Rs. 3,700 crore has been looted from senior citizens!”
