Railways set right vital statisticVishaka Zadoo / New Delhi February 10, 2006The Railways expect to declare a marked improvement in performance for the current fiscal. On Rail Budget day, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is expected to show an operating ratio of nearly 84. This surpasses the targeted 90.2 and indicates that the financial health of the Railways has improved. The ratio is the expenditure on every Rs 100 earned.For every Rs 100 of income, the Railways are expected to earn a surplus of Rs 16. In 2004-05, the surplus was nearly half of this figure at Rs 8.8.Sources said the healthy operating ratio had been driven by the fact that the Railways net internal generation was expected to be nearly Rs 11,500 crore this fiscal. This is nearly 65 per cent more than Rs 6,963 crore fund balance in 2004-05.This fund balance is appropriated by development fund, depreciation reserve fund, capital fund and safety fund. Of the total Rs 11,500 crore, nearly Rs 6,000 crore is to be transferred to the depreciation fund for renewal and replacement of assets, while close to Rs 5,000 crore will go to the capital fund. The balance will be divided between development and safety fund.In addition, the Railways may also allocate 25 -30 per cent more funds for acquiring rolling stock and its work programme. Hence, the expenditure on rolling stock in 2006-07 will be about Rs 2,500 crore, up from Rs 2,009 crore in the current fiscal. Outlay on computerisation is expected to see a four fold rise to Rs 640 crore in 2006-07.