“The rail budget will be discussed in parliament. It is not right to discuss it in advance,” he said. Sinha said that railways are only able to recover 50 percent of passenger cost and that there is already a huge element of subsidy provided to passengers in the fares. “There is a huge demand-supply gap and finance is a major constraint,” Sinha said adding that the point is how to raise resources to modernise the railways.
Earlier, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had rejected the idea of reduction in passenger fares consequent to lowering of diesel prices. Parliament will commence the budget session on Feb 23. The railway budget will be presented on Feb 26, 2015. This will be followed by the economic survey on Feb 27 and the union budget on Feb 28. (IANS)