Railways out of financial stress of pandemic years: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw discusses increased budget, recruitment, and safety measures in the Indian Railways sector.

The allocation for Railways has increased to ₹2.5 lakh crore from ₹25,000 crore in the past 10 years, and the sector has come out of the difficulties it had faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

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Replying to a debate on the workings of the Railway Ministry, he said that the Railways was fulfilling its expenses from its own income because of the good performance. Listing out the numbers, he said the revenue for 2023-24 had been ₹2.78 lakh crore, while expenses had been around ₹2.75 lakh crore. Expenses included staff costs of around ₹1.16 lakh crore, pension payments of around ₹66,000 crore, power bill of around ₹32,000 crore and financing cost of ₹25,000 crore, he said.

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“Overall, the financial condition is good and we are trying to improve it on a constant basis,” Mr. Vaishnaw said, adding that the subsidises for passengers, for providing stable rail fares, have also increased.

Cargo charges have also helped meet the needs of passenger subsidies, he said. “If you look at a journey of 350 km, ₹121 is the fare of general class in India, ₹400 in Pakistan, ₹413 in Sri Lanka. This is the same in almost all categories,” he said, adding that the Centre is focussing on safety too. He said Linke-Hofmann-Busch coaches (LHC) were being used to replace the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches. The Minister announced that approximately 1,400 locomotives will be manufactured this year, and noted that India has begun exporting metro coaches.

Responding to Opposition charges about recruitment being stagnant, the Minister said that five lakh people were employed by the Railways in the past 10 years and that recruitment process was currently under way for one lakh vacancies. During the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, only four lakh people had gotten jobs with the Railways, he added.