2016-17 Union Railway Budget -Passenger Earnings/Goods Earnings and Total Work Expenditure

 

As both passenger and freight traffic declined, the revenue earned by the Indian Railways was hit.

 The total revenue declined by 8.9 per cent to Rs.1.72 lakh crore in 2015-16 compared with last year. The gross traffic earnings were 8.6 per cent less than the target of Rs.1.83 lakh crore in 2015-16. 

The freight earnings were hit due to poor performance by the core sector – which constitutes around 88 per cent of the goods transported by the Indian Railways. Railway Board Chairman AK Mittal said the total passenger traffic declined in the short distance traffic as people may have chosen road as alternate means of transport. 

Railway Board Chairman AK Mittal, however, added the traffic on long-distance routes grew by around 5 per cent.

Gross traffic earnings were 8.6 per cent less than the target of Rs.1.83 lakh crore

In 2016-17, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu projected the gross traffic receipts at Rs.1.85 crore, an increase by 10 per cent over the revised estimates of the present year.

An incremental traffic of 50 million tonne in freight is expected in 2016-17 as the government is looking to bring down freight tariffs and look to increase the basket of freight goods.

The share of railways in the total freight traffic (35 per cent at present) has been consistently declining over the years, as pointed out by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

The total revenue is expected to grow by 10 per cent to Rs.1.89 crore in 2016-17 as the government is looking to tap other sources of revenue besides passenger and freight.

 Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu listed station redevelopment, monetising land along tracks, monetising soft assets, advertising as some of the means to shore up non-fare revenues.