Lok Sabha Question No. 5219 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Clean and Green Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ramashankar  Vidharthi Rajbhar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5219

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

## CLEAN AND GREEN RAILWAYS

† 5219.  SHRI  RAMASHANKAR RAJBHAR

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the steps being taken by the Government to make the Railways more profitable;
- (b)  the  details  of  the  schemes  for  cleanliness  and  environmental conservation in the Railways;
- (c) the details of the steps being taken by the Government to make
- long distance train travel faster and convenient; and
- (d) the details of the plans for providing concessions in the fares to students, senior citizens and Divyangjan?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a): During 2023-24, the earning of Indian Railways (IR)  was ₹2,56,093  cr  and  revenue  expenditure  was  ₹2,52,834  cr.  The  net Revenue has improved to Rs 3,260 crore in 2023-24. Major expenditure is done on Staff cost, Pension, energy consumption etc.

To increase the profit, Indian Railways (IR) has adopted two-pronged approach i.e. increase the revenue and bring efficiency in operational expenditure.

Due  to  implementation  of  several  freight  revenue  initiatives,  the freight carried by IR during 2020-21 was 1,233 million tonnes which increased  to  1,591  million  tonnes  during  2023-24  i.e.  a  growth  of 29%. IR is set to achieve 1.6 billion tonnes freight loading in the FY 2024-25 making it the third largest freight handling railway system in the world. Some of the important measures to improve the freight include-

-  Encouraging private sector to develop the modern rail freight terminals under 'Gati Shakti Multi- Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)' policy and augmenting/ upgrading the infrastructure at railway owned goods sheds.
-  Implementing various schemes for private sector to invest in wagons including the commodity focused specialized wagons such as wagons for cement, oil, steel, fly-ash, automobiles etc.
-  Facilitating cargo aggregation and thereby, expand the commodity  basket  by  the  schemes  including  the  policy  of 'Cargo  Aggregator  Transportation  Product'  and  'Joint  Parcel Product-Rapid Cargo Services'.
-  Implementing  the  several  tariff  related  measures  to  enhance the rail share by making rail mode competitive with respect to road. These include Short Lead Concession for traffic upto 90 Km,  Liberalized  Automatic  Freight  Rebate  scheme  for  traffic loaded in empty flow direction, discounts on loading of bagged

consignment in open and flat wagon, discount in freight to Fly ash/Bed ash traffic, operation of Mini Rake for Container train, fixation  of  special  haulage  rate  for  Bulk  Cement  (cement  in loose form) when transported in normal containers.

IR has also undertaken many initiatives to increase non-fare revenue such as measures to increase the advertisement earnings, implementing the NINFRIS (New and Innovative Ideas and Concepts Scheme for  Generation  for  Non-fare  Revenue)  policy  to  encourage innovative  revenue-generating  ideas.  Some  examples  of  NINFRIS Contracts  are  Nursing  pods,  luggage  wrapping  and  sanitization, digital cloakrooms, disposal linen kiosks, imitation jewellery kiosks, Khadi selling kiosks, handicraft kiosks, Kiosks for online education platforms, facilities for electric charging facilities, oxygen parlours, etc.  An  e-auction  policy  has  been  implemented  to  expedite  the bidding for assets such as leased parcel space, parking lots, ATMs etc.    The  benefits  of  e-Auction  module  include  -  realization  of  true earning potential of each  asset, reduction the time taken in finalization of Tenders and prevent revenue loss on this account, reaward of contract in quick time in case of failure in commencing by any contractor etc.

IR has also undertaken steps to improve the earning from passenger segments such as running of special trains, augmentation of on-board capacity, and introduction of new trains with higher facilities on appropriate fare.

Similarly, various measures are being regularly taken in railways to ensure optimum expenditure.  Some of the expenditure management on  railways  includes  manpower  management,  electrification  of

Railway tracks etc.  Measures like electrification of Railway tracks has led to savings of more than Rs 4700 crore under Diesel traction in FY 2023-24.

(b):  Cleanliness is a continuous process and various measures have been taken for maintaining cleanliness at stations and trains which include  integrated  housekeeping  contracts  at  major  stations  & trains,  mechanized  cleaning,  bio-toilets  in  passenger  coaches,  On Board Housekeeping Service (OBHS) scheme in long distance trains, Clean Train Station (CTS) scheme for identified trains en-routed at nominated stations, dustbins for bio-degradable and nonbiodegradable wastes etc.

IR  has  taken  various  steps  to  promote  environment  friendly  & sustainable practices. Some of them are as under:-

-  Conversion  of  End  on  Generation  (EOG)  trains  into  Head  on Generation  (HOG)  trains  to  reduce  noise,  air  pollution  and diesel consumption.
-  Construction of Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs).
-  Procurement of renewable energy from different power procurement modes for its future energy requirements.
-  Provision of energy efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting in all Railway installations including stations, service buildings,  residential  quarters  and  coaches  for  reduction  in electricity consumption.
-  Use of star rated appliances.
-  98% of railway tracks have been electrified, resulting in saving
- in diesel consumption.
- Harnessing hydrogen gas to drive train sets.
- 
-  Green Certifications of railway establishments.
-  Proper waste management.

(c):  Improvement/up-gradation  of  Rolling  Stock  to  enhance  safety and comfort of passengers is a continuous and ongoing process on IR. The initiatives include LHB coaches with operating speed of 160 Kmph, better riding index, improved aesthetics and safety features like  Lightweight  design,  Anti-telescopic  &  Anti  climbing  features, Centre  Buffer  Coupler,  Axle  mounted  disc  brake  system  etc.  as compared to the conventional ICF coaches of the 1960s.

In its constant endeavor to provide faster service and better travel experience  to  the  passengers,  IR  are  introducing  Vande  Bharat trains  and  Namo  Rapid  Rail  service,  which  have  modern  coaches, enhanced  safety  features  and  better  amenities.  Presently,  136 Vande  Bharat  services  and  2  Namo  Rapid  Rail  services  are  in operation on the IR network.

IR have also introduced modern State-of the Art fully Non-AC Amrit Bharat  trains.  These  trains  have  advanced  features  like  SemiPermanent couplers for jerk free travel, horizontal sliding windows, better aesthetics of Berths with enhanced look & feel on the lines of Vande Bharat Sleeper, improved crashworthiness in coaches, Emergency Talk Back Unit, improved LED Light fitting & Charging Sockets, foldable  snack  table  and  bottle  holders,  mobile  holders  etc.  These trains  comprise  12  Sleeper  Class  Coaches  and  8  General  Class coaches. Presently, 4 Amrit Bharat services are in operation.

Besides  the  improvement  in  rolling  stock,  the  following  measures have been taken by IR to upgrade railway tracks:

- (i) Using modern track components  consisting of 60kg, 90 Ultimate  Tensile  Strength  (UTS)  rails,  Pre-stressed  Concrete Sleeper (PSC) Normal/Wide base sleepers with modern elastic fastenings.
- (ii) Laying of fan-shaped turnout on PSC sleepers with Thick Web Switches and Weldable CMS Crossings.
- (iii) Providing  Steel  Channel/H-beam  Sleepers  on  girder  bridges while carrying out primary track renewals.
- (iv) Using 130m/260m long rail panels for rail renewals to minimize weld- joints.
- (v) Field-welding by mobile Flash Butt Welding Plant and advanced USFD  Testing  technique  of Rail/  Welds  by  Phased  array technology.
- (vi) Mechanization  in  Track  renewal/  replacement  using  Track Relaying Trains, Points & Crossing Changing machines, Track laying Equipment etc.
- (vii) Deployment  of  Integrated  Track  Monitoring  Systems  (ITMS) and  Oscillation  Monitoring  System  (OMS)  for  comprehensive health assessment to project optimal maintenance requirements.
- (viii) Induction of advance modern machines for track maintenance  i.e.,  high  output  tampers,  high  output  Ballast Cleaning Machines and Rail Grinding machines etc.
- (ix) Adopting  Self-propelled  Ultrasonic  Rail  Testing  Car  (SPURT) and  Rail  Cum  Road  Vehicle  (RCRV)  based  USFD  system  for testing of rails/welds.
- (x) Using  web  enabled  Track  Management  System  (TMS)  for integration and data analytics of the track inspection records

received through various sources to enable precise maintenance inputs.

As a consequence of above measures, speed potential of 110 kmph has now been improved significantly to about 80,000 km at present which was only about 31,000 km in 2014. In addition, upgradation and  improvement  of  about  23,000  km  track  has  been  done  from 2014-15 to 2024-25 (up to Feb'25) for speed potential of 130 kmph.

(d):    IR  strives  to  provide  affordable  services  to  all  strata  of  the society. IR gave a subsidy of Rs. 56,993 crore on passenger tickets in  2022-23.  This  amounts  to  concession  of  46%  on  an  average,  to every person, travelling on Railways. In other words, if the cost of providing service is Rs. 100, then the price of ticket is Rs. 54 only. This subsidy is continuing for all passengers. Further, concessions beyond this subsidy amount are continuing for many categories like 4 categories of Persons with disabilities (Divyangjans), 11 categories of patients and 8 categories of students.

*****