Mr Prabhu had barely got the IR finances in place. He had managed to put operating ratio of IR in positive territory (ratio of funds earned vs funds spent ). But then this 7th pay commission is posing another burden of Rs 35,000 crores. A 10% hike in passenger fare will only garner 5000 crores for IR. Any hike in Freight rates will mean IR further loosing market share to Road Transport, plus hike in freight rates will also stoke inflation (cost of good will inch up as cost of transporting them get dearer)