Indian Railways is contemplating increasing train fares in a bid to raise resources after the Finance Ministry rejected its proposal of a special safety fund, PTI reported on Sunday. The fares for Sleeper, Second Class and AC three-tier will be increased, while AC two-tier and AC one-tier will see a marginal increase in the fares. However, a final decision on the fare hike has not yet been made.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier rejected Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s proposal seeking Rs 1,19,183 crore to create the special Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh for undertaking various safety works. The Finance Ministry offered to provide only 25% and asked Railways to raise the rest of the resources on its own, PTI added.

In light of the recent increase in the number of rail mishaps, the ministry decided to raise resources for the special safety fund. With this fund, the Railways seeks to go for a modern signalling system to prevent train accidents. Since Railways has decided to increase the average speed of trains, the rail track and rail bridges need to strengthened along with signalling upgrade, PTI reported.