In the last rail budget, then Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had linked passenger fares and freight rates with a separate fuel component called Fuel Adjustment Component (FAC) to offset an increase in diesel and electricity prices for the national transporter. The fuel component is supposed to be revised twice a year based on changes in fuel cost.
The fuel tab for the Railways is estimated to increase by Rs. 1,200 crore in the next six months.
As per the budget proposal, the fuel surcharge should have been implemented from October 1. The then Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had announced the implementation of fuel-component-linked revision in only freight tariff from April 1. The passenger fares were not revised as they were hiked only in January this year.
"The file containing the FAC proposal has come to me and I am examining it and a decision will be taken shortly," Kharge said.