Rs 10,000 crore railway vote-on-account on Jan 30

Railway Minister Nitish Kumar will present a Rs 10,000 crore vote-on-account package in the Lok Sabha on January 30. The railways' dividend to the exchequer would be about Rs 3,000 crore, officials said.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which met yesterday, also approved a slew of railway projects with a total outlay of Rs 2,000 crore. These include the setting up of six new lines and three gauge conversions.

The three gauge conversion projects include a 93-km stretch between Sakri and Saharsa in Bihar, close to the bridge proposed to be built over the Kosi river, which will provide an alternative route to the Northeast.

At present, access to the Northeast is through the railways' Darbhanga-New Jalpaiguri line. The other projects cater to states, including Bihar and Haryana.

The decision of having early polls has prompted Nitish Kumar to get the Cabinet clearance for the projects already announced. With barely a week before presenting the vote-on-account, he has placed the proposals before the CCEA.

Railways are likely to fall short of the freight earnings target by 10 million tonnes, or Rs 790 crore in value terms.

The target for the current financial year is about Rs 27,000 crore. However, the passenger earnings target of Rs 13,620 crore is likely to be met.

The officials estimated that the ministry would be able to pay a dividend of Rs 3,000 crore based on savings of Rs 1,440 crore on operational working expenses.

Railways earned Rs 20,172.47 crore from 407.15 million tonnes (MT) of freight traffic during the first nine months of the current financial year.

While traffic has grown 7.01 per cent over the 380.46 MT of cargo hauled during the corresponding period last financial year, earnings increased marginally by 1.87 per cent. The revenue from cargo traffic during April-December 2002 was Rs 19,802.17 crore.