Lok Sabha Question No. 872 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-20
Subject: Revenue Earning
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RAMESWAR TELI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.872 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.12.2017

## REVENUE EARNING

872.  SHRI RAMESWAR TELI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there has been a decline in total earnings of Railways in the past few years and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor ;
- (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 has adversely impacted the ongoing railway projects in the country and if so, the details thereof ?

## 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.872  BY  SHRI  RAMESWAR  TELI  TO  BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  20.12.2017  REGARDING    REVENUE EARNING

- (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  to  increase  earnings  in the  areas  of  passengers,  parcel,  freight  and  sundry  are  as following:-
- (1)  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.
- (2)  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.

- (3)  Steps  taken  for  maximizing  the  freight  earnings  include rationalization of freight rates, effective marketing strategies to
2. capture additional traffic to garner additional revenue. Some of the initiatives are as under:-
3. (i) Distance for Mini Rakes increased from 400KMs to 600KMs.
4. (ii) BCN  wagons  allowed  for  Two  point/Multi  point/Mini  rake booking.
5. (iii) Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Direction has been issued.
6. (iv) Port  Congestion  Charge  (10%  of  Base  Freight)  has  been withdrawn from 13.04.2016 on over all traffic  loaded  from Port.
7. (v) Rationalised  Merry-go-Round  policy  has  been  issued  w.e.f. 01.04.2016.
8. (vi) Dual  Freight  Policy  for  iron  ore  has  been  withdrawn  with effect from May-2016.
9. (vii) Minimum distance for charge is reduced from 125 KMs to 100 KMs for all commodities.
10. (viii) Short Lead concession for charging of freight for all traffic re-introduced.
11. (ix) Classification  of  commodities  for  several  items  has  been changed.
12. (x) Station to Station rates guidelines issued for concession 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 liberalised.
- (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.
- Bridge surcharge for goods and passenger traffic levied on
- (xix) 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.
- Apart from the above,the following schemes have also been introduced by Indian Railways for procurement of rakes for transportation  of  freight  traffic  by  inviting  Public  Private
- (xxii) Partnership(PPP):
- 
- Liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme.

- 
- 
- 
- Wagon Leasing Scheme.
- Special Freight Train Operators Scheme.
- Automobile Freight Train Operators Scheme.
- To facilitate rapid development of a network of freight terminals  with  private  investment  to  provide  efficient  and cost effective logistics services with warehousing solution to  end  users,  a  scheme  namely  Private  Freight  Terminal
- (xxiii) (PFT) has been introduced.
- (4) To increase sundry other earnings, various initiatives  such as board infotainment,  commercial  exploitation    of  surplus  railway  land, land lease, right of way charges,  online booking of retiring rooms
- bulk advertising rights, vinyl wrapping  of trains, on through IRCTC website etc. have been adopted.
- (c): No,  Madam.  Ongoing  railway  projects  like  New  Lines,  Gauge Conversion, Doubling, Electrification and  MTP  are primarily 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.  Further, with  the  introduction  of  Rashtriya  Rail  Sanraksha  Kosh  (RRSK) w.e.f.  2017-18  with  major  contribution  from  Gross  Budgetary Support, execution  of such  works  has  not  been  adversely impacted.

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