Railways earn Rs 3,447 crore from passenger traffic

The railways have earned Rs 3,447.27 crore (Rs 34.47 billion) from passenger traffic in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
 
The figure is 7.85 per cent higher compared with the earnings during the same period in the last fiscal. The growth has come entirely from increased passenger count as there have been no fare hikes this year.
 
The accruals from passenger earnings for the first quarter amount to 25.31 per cent of the Budget target of Rs 13,620 crore (Rs 136.20 billion) for the current fiscal.
 
Passenger earnings for the railways have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 10.66 per cent since 1997-98. The earnings in 2002-03 were Rs 12,573.61 crore (Rs 125.74 billion), Rs 156.39 crore (Rs 1.56 billion) less than the revised Budget estimate of Rs 12,730 crore (Rs 127.30 billion).
 
The growth figure for the first quarter compares unfavourably with the year-on-year growth for the last five years.
 
This might spell trouble for the Railway ministry, which is already cornered by the demand for the setting-up of a Rail Tariff Regulatory Authority.
 
A regulatory body for

railway tariffs was one of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's "priority items", outlined at a Cabinet meeting last week.
 
Passenger traffic in the first quarter of the current fiscal has grown by 4 per cent, largely due to increase in suburban traffic. Budget initiatives for the Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains have, however, begun to pay returns.
 
The basic fare of Jan Shatabdi trains was reduced from the existing mark-up of 10 per cent to 5 per cent over the fares of corresponding super-fast express trains.
 
The catering services on the train were also made optional. This led to a surge in earnings by 15 per cent, senior railway officials told  Business Standard.
 
The officials said the rationalisation of the fare structure of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains had led to a 6.8 and 4.5 increase in their passenger traffic respectively, in the first quarter.
 
The Railways earned Rs 10,660.85 crore (Rs 106.61 billion) in April-June, 2003, 2.42 per cent higher than the earnings for the corresponding period of last fiscal. Rs 6,333.95 crore (Rs 63.34 billion) of this has come from goods traffic.