Monthly railway ticket for Mumbai local trains may get more expensive, says report

Mumbai’s local train commuters might see a fare hike as the ministry of railways is planning to change the price of the monthly season ticket (MST).

In the upcoming budget session, the ministry of railways might increase the fare based on the recommendations by the DK Mittal committee report, according to Hindustan Times . The Mittal committee report suggested that suburban fares should be increased by 2 paise per km every two months until they reach a break-even point.

The report also said that the hike could mean an increase of 33 percent in the monthy railway budget of commuters and the hike could affest nearly 50 lakh of the 70 lakh suburban commuters or around 70 percent of suburban commuters.

“There is no official communication on the DK Mittal committee report. The season ticket fare may increase, but this time the hike won’t be as high,” HT quoted a senior railway official as saying.

In 2014, the Centre had faced a lot of opposition after it proposed hike in the railway fare of local trains in Mumbai by a steep 14.2 percent. As per the plans, a Rs 85 MST (second class) would have cost Rs 150, while a Rs 190 MST would have cost Rs 480.

Similarly, the monthly season pass of Rs 795 for the first class had been revised to Rs 1,930. Likewise, a first class commuter with a monthly pass of Rs 1,740 would have had to shell out Rs 2,120 more for the same journey.

However, following intense protests, even by BJP ally Shiv Sena, the Centre was forced to withdraw the proposed hike.

The local trains are the lifeline for the over two crore people of the Mumbai metropolitan region. The city local services consist of three lines — the Western, Central and Harbour lines, ferrying together over 70 lakh people per day.

(With inputs from PTI)