Railways posts 5% increase in passenger revenue; non-fare revenue up by 72%

With a 5 per cent increase in passenger revenue, Indian railways has posted an overall revenue of Rs 1,65,068 crore during the financial year 2016-17, up 1 per cent compared to Rs 1,63,791 crore in 2015-16.

Another major revenue earner for the national carrier was sundry earnings or non-fare revenue which posted a 72 per cent increase to Rs 10,181 crore, as against Rs 5,928 crore during the financial year 2015-16. 

The increase in passenger revenue is mainly owing to a 1 per cent increase in passenger traffic also. This is compared to a 3 per cent drop in passenger traffic in 2015-16, 2.5 per cent in 2014-15 and 3 per cent decline in 2013-14.

“One of the major reason for the increase in passenger revenue was the launch of flexi fare system. As compared to a mere Rs 21 crore revenue from premium trains, we were able to generate Rs 260.31 crore due to the flexi fare system,” Mohammed Jamshed, member (traffic), Railway board had told Business Standard.

Railways has earned an incremental Rs 1,996 crore during the tenure due to increase in passenger revenue, while the additional revenue from non-fare revenue stood at Rs 4,253 crore.  

On the other hand, the revenue from goods traffic dropped by 4 per cent to Rs 1,04,310 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 1,09,209 crore during the previous financial year. 

According to railway sources, this is mainly owing to a drop in demand of coal and due to lesser economic activities during demonetisation. 

While the shortfall in coal traffic during the current financial year is expected to be 50 million tonne (mt), cement traffic too, almost dropped by 20 mt due to demonetisation impact.

This comes at a time when the railways is likely to revise its flexi fare system in a few days time. “We are working out a model. Two or three pricing systems are under consideration,” Jamshed added.