With the Railways facing an additional burden of Rs 3300 cr due to the diesel price hike, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal today did not rule out another round of hike in passenger fares, saying a view on this will be firmed up in the next few days.

"We have to form our view on this (increasing rail fare) within next few days. We are working on it," Bansal told PTI after meeting Chidambaram when asked about the chances of further increase in passenger fares.

Bansal met Finance Minister P Chidambaram here and is understood to have discussed with him the financial implication of the increase in diesel price to the tune of Rs 10.80 per litre.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of the Railway ministry seeking Rs 38,000 cr as general budgetray support for the fiscal 2013-14. Railways had got Rs 24,000 cr as GBS in the current fiscal.

Keeping up the suspense on fare hike, he said, "No decision whatsoever of this type now. Just wait for Feb 26 (Rail Budget) for that, Bansal.

He, however, noted that the diesel price hike has put an additional burden of Rs 3,300 crore on railways.

The passenger fares, which were not increased for the last 10 years, were hiked from December 22 last year by 21 per cent.

While announcing passenger fare hike in December, Bansal had categorically stated that there would be no fare hike in the Rail Budget 2013-14.

Railways is facing loss of Rs 25,000 crore in passenger segment and it is cross-subsidised from freight earning.

Besides Railways require Rs 1.47 lakh crore for completing 347 ongoing projects across the country.

"We were expecting Rs 6,600 crore after the recent passenger fare hike. But the Rs 10.80 per litre diesel hike would cost railways Rs 3,300 crore a year," Bansal said,

"Fund is required for laying new lines, development of stations and for ongoing projects," he said while adding "fare is one source but funds can be garnered from other non-traffic avenues which we are exploring."

Railways has 43,000 hectares of vacant land which it is trying for commercial utilisation.