NEW DELHI: In an attempt to boost freight revenues, the Railway Board on Tuesday rationalised coal tariff by changing the distance slabs, which is likely to fuel inflation and dent margins of cement as well as power companies.As a result, the freight rates will increase by up to 19 per cent.The Railway Board on Tuesday revised the freight rate table for coal traffic per tonne. The board plans to levy a coal terminal charge ( CTS ) at the rate of Rs 55 per tonne to be levied at both loading as well as unloading terminals for traffic of coal. The new rates are applicable for distance beyond 100 km.Indian Railways, which has been struggling to stem the decline in freight and passenger revenues, has seen a 7.74 per cent fall in freight earnings in July, compared with the year-ago period.Consumer prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace to 6.07 per cent last month from a year ago, and up from June’s 5.77 per cent, government data showed on Friday.But the proposed freight rate increase is likely to fuel inflation and will put any plan of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) on the backburner.“The freight rate hike will definitely have an impact on inflation. In recent times, we have seen CPI inching up. If this is implemented, it will have an impact on the CPI,” Hemang Jani of Sharekhan said in an interview with ETNow.“Secondly, road transport will become far more cost effective versus railways. Companies like Gateway Distriparks, which were relying heavily on rail cargo, will take a hit as well as steel and cement firms,” he said.Jani said an increase in freight rates is going to impact the overall cost of cement and steel companies. Reacting to the news, the Nifty50 broke below the crucial support level of 8,600.Shares of cement companies such as Ambuja Cement , Shree Cement slipped up to 3 per cent. JSW Steel shares fell nearly 1 per cent.