Railway Budget 2019: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the Union Budget 2019 in Parliament. According to the railway Budget 2019, Indian Railways is aiming for an operating ratio of 95%. Last year, the operating ratio stood at 96.2%. The operating ratio is a crucial indicator of the railways’ financial health since it points to what the national transporter earns for every Rs 100 spent. Sitharaman, in her maiden budget speech, said that Indian Railways’ infrastructure will need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore till the year 2030.
As per the working result details shared by the Railway Ministry, in the financial year 2018-19, the gross traffic receipts stood at Rs 1,96,714 crore and total working expenses were at Rs 1,88,800 crore. In the financial year 2019-20, the gross traffic receipts are estimated to be Rs 2,16,675 crore and total working expenses will be Rs 2,05,500 crore.
As per Indian Railways earnings details, in the financial year 2018-19, the earnings from passenger trains were Rs 52,000 crore and earnings from freight trains were Rs 1,29,750 crore. In the financial year 2019-20, the earnings from passenger trains are expected to be Rs 56,000 crore and the earnings from freight trains are likely to be Rs 1,43,000 crore.
Meanwhile, in Railway Budget 2019, Sitharaman proposed to use the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to unleash faster development and completion of railway tracks, delivery of passenger freight services as well as for rolling stock manufacturing. The capital expenditure for the financial year 2019-20 has been pegged at Rs 1,60,176 crore, which is 20% higher than 2018-19. The Railway Budget 2019 also claimed to complete the electrification of railways’ broad gauge network by 2021-22. For 2019-20, electrification of 7000 RKM (route kilometre) has been targeted. Moreover, the target of new railway lines, gauge conversion, doubling/tripling, etc. for this year is 3750 km against 3596 km in the previous year.
