Train fares soar by 90 percent

By Nadia Fazlulhaq

Hard on the heels of last Thursday’s hike in bus fares by 27.2 per cent, the Railway Department imposed a 90 percent increase in fares from yesterday.“The minimum fare will be doubled. The charge per kilometre has been increased by 90 percent,” the Railway’s Commercial Manager Wijeya Samarasinghe said.

Minister Dullas Alahapperuma

The worst hit by this increase will be state sector employees, most of whom travel by train on season tickets to which the increase will also apply. This was the biggest ever increase in railway fares. Mr. Samarasinghe said operational cost of the Railways had increased by 120 percent since the last increase in rail fares in 2005.

He said it was impossible to continue without raising fares after last week’s unprecedented increase in fuel prices. Rail and bus fares were increased while the government urged more people to use public transport after surveys revealed that as many as 175,000 private vehicles entered Colombo city daily. Hitherto the railway services had been popular due to the low fares and were used by a large number of commuters.

However the government defended the increase saying the Railway department was suffering heavy losses. Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that the Railway’s annual operational cost was about Rs. 10,000 million and it earned only Rs. 2,500 million.

The balance Rs.7,500 million had to be provided by the Treasury. With the fuel price hike, the Treasury would have to provide another Rs. 1,000 million and it would be impossible to carry on like that.