Minister of railways Lalu Prasad today said in a statement Indian Railways will not pass the share of the railways' additional financial burden to  either passengers or freight customers.

Prasad pointed out that Indian Railways consume 227 crore litres (2.27 billion litres) diesel per annum and an increase in the price of diesel by Rs3 per litre would cost Railways Rs681 crore annually and Rs560 crore for the remaining ten months of the current financial year.

He said that railways have decided to absorb the diesel price hike by improving its productivity, efficiency and volumes.

Prasad said that all zonal railways have been directed to grant upto 50 per cent discount, as against the prevailing 30 per cent, for loading of essential commodities like cement, foodgrains, fertilisers etc in the empty flow direction.

Further reduction in freight rates is also being examined keeping in view the competitive position of the railways in the transport market so as to attract more traffic and increase earnings, the Minister added.

The minister further said that Indian Railways had maintained price stability in passenger fares for the last four years. It had, in fact, reduced AC-I fares by 28 per cent, AC-II fares by 17 per cent, AC-III fares upto 40 per cent in case of Garib Rath trains and second class fares by 5-25 per cent, which had made AC travel much more affordable.

In the freight sector too, a flurry of initiatives and discounts have attracted more and more customers which resulted in a record freight loading of 795 million tonnes during the year 2007-08.