Lok Sabha Question No. 1261 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-23
Subject: Revenue of Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD, T. RADHAKRISHNAN, SUDHEER GUPTA, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1261 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.11.2016

## REVENUE OF RAILWAYS

1261. DR. SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD:

SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN: SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA: SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Railways has taken steps for raising its revenue; and
- (b)

if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) & (b) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  AND  (b)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1261 BY DR. SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD, SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN, SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA AND SHRI  GAJANAN  KIRTIKAR  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 23.11.2016 REGARDING REVENUE OF RAILWAYS

- (a)
- Yes, Madam.
- (b) The following  steps  have  been  taken  by  Railways  to  increase the Railway Revenue output:
1. Increasing the axle load for carrying additional traffic per wagon. Length of freight trains has also been increased to carry more traffic per train.
2. Use  of  extensive  computerization  in  freight  operations  to improve monitoring and to improve utilization of assets.
3. Deployment  of  higher  capacity  locomotives  and  higher capacity wagons.
4. Improvement  in  maintenance  practices  of  wagons  and locomotives  resulting  in  increased  availability  of  rolling stock for traffic use.
5. Improvement  in  track  and  signaling  to  carry  the  high volume of traffic.
- 6.
- Freight rates for Coal traffic have been rationalised.
7. Rationalisation 01.04.2016.
- 8.
- of  Merry-Go-Round  (MGR)  system  w.e.f.
- Withdrawal of Port Congestion Charge from 13.04.2016.
- 9.
- Extension  of  Automatic  Freight  Rebate  scheme  for  traffic loaded in traditional empty flow direction w.e.f. 13.04.2016.
10. Withdrawal of Busy Season Charge for traffic loaded in BCN group and BCNHL wagons w.e.f. 01.05.2016 till 30.06.2016.

11. Withdrawal of dual freight policy for iron ore w.e.f. 10.05.2016.
12. Re-introduction  of  short  lead  concession  and  reduction  of minimum distance for charge from 125 km to 100 km w.e.f. 15.07.2016.
13. BCN group permitted for two point booking and mini rake w.e.f. 15.03.2016.
14. Distance  for  mini  rake  increased  from  400  km  to  600  km w.e.f. 15.03.2016.
15. A  liberalised  policy  with  delegation  of  power  to  Zonal Railways  introduced  for  two  point  booking  of  covered wagons  in  which  any  two  stations  within  a  distance  of 200km in busy season and 400km in lean season have been permitted for two point booking w.e.f. 22.07.2016.
16. Proliferation  of  Roll-on  Roll-off  (RORO)  service  on  Indian Railways.
17. Permission  to  notify  Group  I  and  Group  II  station/  goods sheds as CRTs for lift on-lift off operations w.e.f. 12.07.2016.
18. Charging  of  commodities  for  transportation  by  containers has been liberalised. 43 additional commodities de-notified for charging at FAK rates.
9. 19.
10. Guidelines for Station to Station Rate policy issued.
20. Various schemes have been introduced for procurement of wagons through public private partnership mode  and thereby  increase  freight  revenue  of  the  railways.  These schemes  are  inter-alia Liberalized Wagon  Investment …3/-

Scheme  (LWIS);  Special  Freight  Train  Operator  (SFTO); Automobiles  Freight  Train  Operator  Scheme  (AFTO);  and

- Wagon Leasing Scheme (WLS).
21. Augmentation of ticket selling  capacity  through  operation of  Automatic  Ticket  Vending  Machines  (ATVM),  ticket booking  through  mobile  phones,  utilizing  the  services  of ticketing agents like Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS), Station Ticket Booking Agents (STBA), Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) licensees etc.
22. Organizing intensive ticket checking drives including fortress checks etc.
23. Augmentation of on-board capacity by attachment of additional coaches, running of special trains during festivals and holidays, running of Suvidha trains etc.
24. Increasing  advertising  revenues  by  taking  market  friendly measures.
25. Tapping new sources of revenues from Digital mediums.
26. Providing  new  services  to  passengers  which  are  revenue generating.
27. With  a  view  to  ensuring  optimal  utilization  of  available accommodation  in  Retiring Rooms  and  Dormitory  and enhance the sundry earnings, a pilot project for a period of six  months  have  been  launched  in  Western  Railway  for booking of Retiring Room as well as dormitory for minimum duration  of  3  hours  except  for  night  booking  where  the booking is done mandatorily from 21:00 hrs to 09:00 hrs.

…4/-

The  hourly  booking  service  is  operational  at  a  few  major stations viz. Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat. The

Tariff would be charged on hourly basis.

28. In  addition  to  reputed  banks  (Nationalised  Banks),  all Scheduled Banks (notified by Reserve Bank of India) have been  permitted  to  participate  in  the  tenders  invited  for installation  of  ATM's  in  Railway  station  premises.  Third party i.e. the authorised agencies/individual(s) who has/have  been  given  power  of  attorney  by  the  respective bank for this purpose can also be allowed to participate in tender process on behalf of Bank(s).
29. To enhance revenue from parking contracts, Zonal Railways  have  been  authorised  to  frame  their  own  policy for  awarding  parking  contracts  at  Railway  Stations  duly taking  into  account  their  own  local  conditions  and  in conformity with General Conditions of Contracts (GCC).

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