Rail Budget: Prabhu may spare passengers

New Delhi: Passengers may be spared of a fare hike while the focus would be on investment in modernisation of tracks, upgradation of amenities like Wi-Fi and much-needed sanitation and catering in the Railway Budget to be presented on Thursday.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, who will present his maiden budget, has been provided an elbow room by a sharp drop in prices of diesel in the last few months.
While the Railways needs large resources for modernisation, the NDA Government would find it difficult   to justify fare hike in the backdrop of a sharp drop in diesel prices which would result in a saving of Rs 12,000-15,000 crore in 2015-16, officials said.
Besides, it was only in June, 2014 that a tidy increase of 14.2 per cent on passenger fares and 6.5 per cent in freight charges were effected. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project of high speed rail corridor, the resources will have to be raised outside the Budget by way of joint ventures with the private sector, more likely from the foreign direct investment (FDI) route. However, a lot more clarity on the project is expected, according to officials in the Railway Ministry.