Concerned over a  three per cent drop in passenger growth during the current year, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar said on Wednesday that the Rail Budget for 2003-04 would seek to rationalise fares for enhancing income from passenger fares by 7 per cent during the next fiscal.

The Railways will undertake a massive accounting reforms to phase out cross-subsidisation from freight to passenger traffic, Kumar told reporters after presenting the Railway Budget for 2003-2004.

"The accounting reform process has started for determining the actual cost and the in-built subsidy in passenger fares", Kumar told reporters, adding more funds would be required to meet public service obligations.

Kumar also expressed disappointment over the low budgetary support levels and said the Ministry will seek additional funds during the course of the year for implementing various projects.

Out of the Rs 6,577 crore (Rs 65.77 billion) budgetary support as much as Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) would go for the Rail Vikas Nigam and Rs 433 crore (Rs 4.333 billion) for the central road fund besides Rs 1600 crore (Rs 16 billion) in special railway safety, he said.

PTI