Railways to widen avenues for augmenting revenue

Railways is seeking to augment revenues through greater capacity building and utilisation of non-tariff sources with a focus on tapping earnings through advertisements and land monetisation.
Addressing reporters here after the presentation of the Rail Budget, Railway Board Chairman A K Mital said there will be structural changes in the Board for increased efficiency.
Railway Board will be reorganised along business lines and new directorates will be created to increase mobility and speed, he said.
According to the plan, cross-functional directorates will be set up within the Board to focus on areas like non-fare revenues, speed enhancement, motive power and information technology.

A Railway Development Authority will be established that will deal with tariffs, benchmarking of standards and prepare a level playing field for private players.
The aim is to attract private investment and the body will also act as a dispute resolution mechanism, he said.

In a bid to streamline its company structure, railways will set up a holding company, on the lines of Tata Sons, for its 14 companies that will handle disinvestment, if done, and receive the dividends paid by them which will be spent on expansion and growth.
"Last year was challenging due to weak economic scenario globally and in India, but our operating ratio was 90 per cent, which is reasonable. Now, to increase revenue without raising passenger fares and freight tariffs, our focus is on increasing capacity to increase earnings," Mital said.

Referring to non-tariff revenue, Mital said, "We will also take steps to increase our revenue through non-fare sources, which is earnings through ads, land monetisation and other sundry earnings. This is at present only 3-4 per cent against a global average of 15-120 per cent. These steps will help us raise revenue without raising fares and tariffs," he said.
On the High-Speed Rail Corridor for the Bullet train, the Board's chairman said a holding company has been formed with an initial equity infusion of Rs 200 crore. The process of appointing the directors of the Rs 40,000-crore firm is on and will be completed in the next three months.

Japan will contribute 81 per cent of the funds required while the remaining will be by the Centre and states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.