In a major bonanza to passengers, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday announced up to 29 per cent cut in basic fares for Janshatabdi express, while slashing fares by up to 22 per cent in case of upper class Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains.

In absolute terms, First Class AC passengers of Rajdhani Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Thiruvananthapuram would get the maximum benefit of Rs 1,401, as the basic fare for this journey would be slashed from Rs 7,471 to Rs 6,070 from April 1, 2003.

The tariff bonanza is part of the rationalisation of passenger tariff, which have been spared any hike across the board, announced by Kumar in his Rail Budget for 2003-04 in Parliament.

Passengers travelling between New Delhi and Guwahati by Rajdhani Express would now pay Rs 324 less for AC First Class, Rs 380 less for AC 2-Tier, while the tariff for AC 3-Tier remains unchanged.

Similarly between Delhi and Mumbai, passengers would be paying up to 13 per cent less while travelling in AC 2-Tier Class in Rajdhani Express.

Between New Delhi and Howrah, fares have been reduced by up to 14 per cent at Rs 1,991 for AC 2-Tier, Rs 3,845 (reduction of 4 per cent) for AC First Class and Rs 1,269 (reduction of 5 per cent) for AC 3-Tier, Kumar said.

PTI