Suburban train travel could get costlier

This rail budget could make suburban train travel costlier.

This rail budget could make suburban train travel costlier.

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For, the railway ministry, which is struggling with shortage of funds, may consider levying the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) the second and third instalment of the surcharge on suburban tickets.

“In a pre-budget meeting with railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, levying of surcharge on tickets was one of the demands made by the state government,” said a senior railway officer, Central Railway (CR).

The first part of the MUTP surcharge was first levied on September 15, 2003. The other two instalments were to be introduced in 2006 and 2009 to recover the cost of the project. Even 4 years after the deadline, the surcharge has not been levied yet.

Currently, there is no MUTP surcharge on suburban railway tickets up to a distance of 10km. From 11-50km, the surcharge is Rs2 for first class and Re1 for second-class tickets.

For monthly session tickets, the surcharge is Rs20 for first class and Rs10 for second class up to 50km. In the current financial year, the CR has collected Rs40.48 crore as MUTP surcharge. The amount was Rs37.15 crore last year.

“The CR collected Rs3.5 crore as the MUTP surcharge through selling of tickets and MST,” added another CR official on condition of anonymity.

The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation collects surcharge amount from both Central and Western Railway. The amount is distributed on a 50:50 basis between the state government and railways. The amount received by the railways is sent to the Ministry of Finance to repay World Bank’s loan.

Initially, the estimated cost of the MUTP’s first phase was Rs3,125 crore. The delay in completion of various projects has risen the amount to almost Rs4,500 crore.