Indian Railways has reason to worry! Revenue from passenger fares continues to fall, but freight a bright spot

Indian Railways sees a major dip in earnings from passenger fares! In the third quarter of the current financial year, the national transporter’s earnings from passenger fares dipped further by around Rs 400 crore as compared to the last quarter. The information was revealed through an RTI query, according to a PTI report. However, the revenue of Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways from freight loading, which had suffered a deficit of Rs 3,901 crore in the second quarter of the year, improved by an amount of around Rs 2,800 crore during the period between October and December, the report stated.

Earlier, the earnings of Indian Railways from passenger fare had dipped by an amount of Rs 155 crore in the second quarter as compared to the first quarter. A reply to an RTI query, which was filed by an activist based out of Madhya Pradesh, Chandra Shekhar Gaur, revealed that in the first quarter of the financial year 2019-20, i.e., the period from April to June, the national transporter earned a revenue of Rs 13,398.92 crore from its passenger fares. The earnings went down to Rs 13,243.81 crore in the second quarter from July to September, and it went down further to an amount of Rs 12844.37 crore in the third quarter, the period between the months of October and December.

According to the RTI reply, in freight loading, Indian Railways seems to have made a robust recovery in the third quarter of the year. In the first quarter, Rs 29,066.92 crore was earned by Indian Railways from freight loading. In the second quarter of the year, the earnings from freight reduced to Rs 25,165.13 crore. However, the national transporter made a significant recovery in the third quarter by earning Rs 28,032.80 crore.

In a bid to counter the slowdown in its freight loading, Indian Railways has initiated a slew of measures. Recently, the national transporter waived its busy season surcharge on freight traffic, launched a scheme offering up to 25% concession on trains with AC chair car as well as executive class sitting. Also, it launched initiatives to phase out 30-year-old diesel engines, reduce fuel bills, monetize its land holdings and generate non-fare revenue.

Source: Financial Express