The Indian Railways has registered a revenue growth of more than 10 per cent in the first quarter, aided by its dynamic fare system for premium trains. It is due to Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu’s efforts that the robust growth in the passenger and freight segments helped the railways boost combined revenue to Rs 43,000 crore in the first quarter that ended in June. The revenue went up from Rs 38,833 crore last year.
Notably, this time the revenue has reached the highest ever for the passenger segment, at around Rs 14,000 crore, up from Rs 12,000 crore last year.
Here’s how the Union ministry increased the revenue:
The key factor in the rise of passenger fares was the increase in the number of premium trains that made use of dynamic fare pricing.
According to an Economic Times report, around 2,100 passenger bookings were made in the last quarter on various new premium trains such as the Uday Express, Tejas Express and Humsafar Express.
There has been an increase in demand for transport of steel, iron ore, food grains and other commodities has seen the railways carry 290 million tonnes of freight in the last quarter. Revenue collections shot up to Rs 28,000 crore this year. Previously, it was Rs 25,000 crore.
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Future plans
The revenue target for the current financial year has been set at Rs 1.89 lakh crore.
Rs 1.67 lakh crore has been earned in the financial year 2017 with 1.107 billion tonnes of cargo being hauled. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu aims to reach 1.2 billion tonnes this fiscal.
The railway is also banking on the two dedicated freight corridors — eastern and western — being built at an investment of Rs 80,000-crore.
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With its newly launched non fare policy, which includes the private brands and e-commerce firms, who are collaborating with the railways’ to use its assets for advertising and other commercial exploitation, railways expects to get more than Rs 20,000 crore annually.
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