Railways hike freight rates for coal, coke and cement

The Railways has raised freight rates for coal, coke and cement from seven to eight per cent even as the Railway minister Lalu Prasad claimed in Patna today that the its profits in the current fiscal will cross Rs1,00,000 crore.

The hike in freight rates will come into effect on Monday itself.

''The revision followed a reclassification of cement from class 140 to class 150 and coal and coke from class 140 to class 150 for trainload movement,'' according to a Railway notification.

The hike in the freight charges for coal and coke is expected to affect steel mills and power projects, both of which have agreed to cut prices following a reduction in excise duties.

''Sanction of the central government is hereby accorded to revise the classification of main commodity head 'coal and coke' from Class-140 to Class-150 for train-load movement,'' an official circular said.

The move comes a day after government announced a four per cent across-the-board reduction in excise duty to give a boost to the core sector industries.

The freight hike is expected to cost coal and coke customers, including power, steel, cement companies, about Rs3 lakh more per rake, equivalent to about 3,800 tonnes, of load.

This would in effect more than offset the four per cent cut in CENVAT announced by the government.