Earnings of railways up 10.3%

The earnings of the railways rose 10.3 per cent in 2004-05 over the previous year. The gross traffic receipts at Rs 47,000 crore was Rs 214 crore more than their target.

Railway earnings surpassed targets in both passenger and freight segments. Exceeding the target by Rs 230 crore, the freight revenues rose 11.17 per cent to Rs 30,680 crore. The passenger segment posted earnings of Rs 14,247 crore, 1.51 per cent more than the target set in the railway budget.

Passenger earnings grew 7.28 per cent with incremental earnings of Rs 946 crore over the previous year. These incremental earnings are the highest in the last 25 years after adjusting for additional resource mobilisation because of change in fares.

In terms of volume, passenger and goods traffic met their targets. The railways, in last fiscal, loaded freight just over their target of 600 million tonnes, while the number of passengers grew by nearly 6 per cent to 5,415 million.

The number of long-distance passengers grew at a faster rate of 6.63 per cent compared with suburban traffic which went up by 5.95 per cent.

Expecting the buoyancy in the economy to continue this year, too, the railways will be chasing a loading target of 700 million tonnes in the current year. This internal target is as much as 65 million tonnes more than the estimate of 635 million tonnes set for the next year.

The railways' sundry earnings at Rs 1,074 crore were 6.6 per below the target set for the year. This was despite sundry earnings registering a 30 per cent increase over the previous year.

The target under this segment was revised upwards, anticipating higher dividends from public sector undertakings under the railways. This, however, did not materialise.

Other coaching earnings, including earnings from parcel business, also went up by 10.14 per cent in 2004-05 to Rs 1002.03 crore.

Smooth track

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• The passenger segment posted earnings of Rs 14,247 crore, 1.51 per cent more than the target set in the railway budget
• The railways, during the last fiscal, loaded freight just over their target of 600 million tonnes
• The number of passengers grew by nearly 6 per cent to 5,415 million