Although the Sixth Pay Commission is likely to increase the expenses of the Railways by Rs 13,500 crore in 2009-2010, it is not going to affect the profit ratio significantly. This is due to the probability of making more revenues by the Railways owing to a fall of 2% in all AC and mail train fares. Also, the future prospects of Indian Railways are looking quite bright, as there has been a 14% growth in passengers traveling by train. This is surprising, as the recent trend suggests that more and more people are developing a likability towards traveling by airplanes. However, now we can say that there is still a large section of the Indian population who cannot afford to travel by plane and railways would always be a prime necessity for them. Also, the recent efforts of the railways to offer a more hygienic environment to all passengers, both at the platforms and inside the trains, have become quite successful in tilting the balance in favor of traveling by trains.
To complement the growth figures in railway revenues and also the future growth prospects, Lalu Prasad Yadav announced some developmental projects, requiring a total outlay of Rs 35,900 crore. This would include building more capacity in all passenger trains, creating 88% more capacity in all goods trains, setting up of 4 Railways inquiry call centers, undertaking research work on bullet trains, creating connectivity of railways to Kashmir, increasing the frequency of trains on each line, and many more such tasks. In fact, there would be an investment of Rs 2,30,000 crore in the 11th Plan.
Having invested Rs 70,000 out of its surplus, the Indian Railways has shown a remarkable growth last year, which is likely to improve over time. With an increase in revenue by 39 paise and a fall in costs by 7 paise per tonne/Km since 2001, Indian Railways promises to generate more revenues in coming years. Also, the electrification of 1000 kilometers of rail lines has been successfully completed. It is not only the efficiency that has increased, but also the effectiveness of Indian Railways. The evidence to this fact is a fall in the number of train accidents from 325 in 2003-04 to 194 in 2007-08. However, more efforts are still required to bring down this number to zero.
However, Karnataka’s Chief Minister showed his complete dissonance over the Railway Interim Budget. Even industry experts criticized the budget as merely rhetoric, with no intention to offer some impetus to the sagging industrial growth. In fact, there should have been an announcement on freight charges. A good percentage reduction in freight rates is absolutely necessary to give a boost to the economy in this global slowdown.
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Comment by Vishal — February 20, 2009 @ 7:40 am
As we know that the Indian Railway in Profit from last 2years. But I suggest that the discipline of Indian railway is very Bad. So many limitation under this department like wise_ in general cabin 70seat approximately but the people is not less than 200. How they set there, most of the people fight for seats. And if we want to take a seat reserve on current day that is not possible it may in waiting condition or most of the condition TT wants money to reverse seat. Queue in railway station people are press to each other as like a animals. These all things are uncivilized. But I am happy to see the profit of Railway and it is very good Interim budgets.
Comment by Mandeep Singh — March 3, 2009 @ 7:43 am