The interim Railway Budget has left passenger fares and freight rates unchanged, ahead of the national elections due in next three months.
Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge presented the Budget on Wednesday for the first four months of the 2014/15 fiscal year that begins in April.
The government had last raised passenger fares in January 2013, after a nine-year gap, snapping a populist trend in order to help mend the finances of a network whose creaky service has become a drag on the economy.
Indian Railways - the fourth largest in the world with about 65,000 km of tracks - is the main mode of long-distance travel in the country.
The Budget presented today envisages investment of Rs. 64,305 crore as against revised estimates for 2013-14 of Rs 59,359 crore. He also proposed 17 new premium trains, 38 express trains and 10 passenger trains.
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