Lok Sabha Question No. 1828 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-26
Subject: Revenue Earnings
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RAMESWAR TELI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1828 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2017

## REVENUE EARNINGS

1828. SHRI RAMESWAR TELI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  has  been  a  decline  in  the  total  earnings  of Railways in the past few years and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  any  comprehensive  plan  has  been  put  in  place  to increase  the  earnings  of  the  Railways  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (c) whether the decline in revenue earnings have adversely impacted the ongoing railway projects in the country and if so, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1828 BY SHRI RAMESWAR TELI TO BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  26.07.2017  REGARDING REVENUE EARNINGS

## (a):  No,  Madam. The details of earnings for the last three years are as under:-

( ` in crore)

| YEAR           |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |
|----------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Total Earnings |    157072 |    163791 |    165299 |

- (b):  Indian  Railways  strives  continuously  to  explore  potential areas to improve revenue generation.

Initiatives taken to increase passenger earnings include introduction  of  new  trains,  enhancement  of  composition  of more    popular  trains,  attachment  of  extra  coaches  in  the existing trains, running of special trains during peak seasons, festivals  and  special  events,  operation  of  premium  special trains on certain high-demand sectors with dynamic pricing.

Measures  to  improve  parcel  earnings  include  leasing  parcel space  to  private  parties,  liberalization  of  parcel  policy  and delegation  of  powers    to  Zonal  Railways  to  fix  the  reserve price  in  a  manner  so  as  to  make  it  more  attractive  vis-à-vis road sector.

Steps taken for maximizing  the freight earnings include rationalization of freight rates, effective marketing strategies to capture additional traffic to garner additional revenue. Some of the initiatives are as under:-

- (i) Distance  for  Mini  Rakes  increased  from  400KMs  to 600KMs.
- (ii) BCN wagons allowed for Two point/Multi point/Mini rake booking.
- (iii) Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Direction has been issued.
- (iv) Port Congestion Charge (10% of Base Freight) has been withdrawn  from  13.04.2016  on  over  all  traffic  loaded from Port.
- (v) Rationalised Merry-go-Round policy has been  issued w.e.f. 01.04.2016.
- (vi) Dual Freight Policy for iron ore has been withdrawn with effect from May-2016.
- (vii) Minimum distance for charge is reduced from 125 KMs to 100 KMs for all commodities.
- Short  Lead  concession  for  charging  of  freight  for  all
- (viii) traffic re-introduced.
- (ix) Classification of commodities for several items has been changed.

- Station to Station rates guidelines issued for concession
- (x) in freight w.e.f. 29.09.2016.
- (xi) Proliferation of Roll-on-Roll-off over Indian Railways.
- (xii) Weighment  of  Bagged  consignment  policy  has  been liberlised.
- (xiii) 43  Commodities  added  to  Freight  All  Kinds  rates  to expand Container Traffic Basket.
- (xiv) Station  and  Goods  sheds  notified  in  Group  I  &  II  are opened for Container operations.
- (xv) Instructions  for  movement  of  HSD  oil  in  BTPN  rakes  to Bangladesh have been issued.
- (xvi)
- Coal Tariff has been rationalized.
- (xvii) Policy for carrying bagged consignment in open wagons at concessional freight has been reintroduced.
- (xviii) The permissible carrying capacity of BOXN groups of wagons rationalized for Bangladesh traffic.
- (xix) Bridge surcharge for goods and passenger traffic levied on the Digha and Monghyr Bridge.
- (xx) Inflation in distance for charge @ 50% on goods traffic in Bibinagar-Nadikudi section of SCR has been withdrawn.
- (xxi) Policy  on  Long  Term  Tariff  Contract  with  key  freight customers have been issued on 30.03.2017.

To increase sundry other earnings, various initiatives  such as bulk  advertising  rights,  vinyl  wrapping  of  trains,  on  board infotainment, commercial exploitation  of surplus railway land, land  lease,  right  of  way  charges,    online  booking  of  retiring rooms through IRCTC website etc. have been adopted.

Zonal  Railways  have  also  been  instructed  to  make  special efforts to increase the earnings from Commercial Publicity.

- (c): No, Madam. Ongoing railway projects like New Lines, Gauge Conversion,  Doubling,  Electrification  and  MTP  are  financed through  Gross  Budgetary  Support  (GBS)  received  from  the Government  and  Extra  Budgetary  Resources.  Railways  have prioritized  projects  based  on  last  mile  connectivity  criteria, remunerativeness, operational requirement and resource availability to make optimum utilisation of resources.

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