Should passenger fares be hiked to check the spiralling Rs 4,500-crore cross-subsidisation by freight?
Ms Banerjee, who has created for herself a pro-people and anti-reforms image, has made it clear that she will raise resources from non-traditional sources and will leave the commuters alone. There are two arguments that hold against her line of thinking. First, if passenger fares are not hiked and freight is increased, the common man will end up paying more (even if he does not travel by train) since he will have to shell out more for buying goods if transportation costs increase. Moreover, freight will move to roads which may further strain railway finances. Second, the railways’ experiment with raising money from non-core activities has not been very fruitful. For instance, commercial publicity and exploitation of railway land and air space was expected to fetch Rs 250 crore during the current year, while leasing of `right of way’ for optic fibre cables was expected to fetch Rs 500 crore. However, nothing much has flowed into these accounts. In fact, as per figures for the 11-month p
