Railways' revenue to cross Rs100,000 crore this fiscal

Railways' earnings are set to exceed the Rs100,000-crore mark for the first time, with gross traffic receipts estimated at Rs1,06,239 crore in 2010-11. The gross traffic receipts assumes clearance of Rs200 crore from the traffic suspense.

The Railway Budget, presented by minister of railways Mamata Banerjee, has projected a freight traffic of 993 million tonnes and passenger growth of 6.4 per cent in 2001-12 over 2010-11.

The 2011-12 budget assesses ordinary working expenses at Rs73,650 crore, up 9.9 per cent from the revised estimates of 2010-11. This, the minister said, is on account of the annual increments of salaries, DA, higher requirement for fuel and materials for increased level of activity and lease payments.

The appropriation to pension fund is placed at Rs15,800 crore and to the depreciation reserve fund at Rs7,000 crore. Total working expenses of the Railways for 2011-12 adds up to Rs96,450 crore. A provision of Rs6,735 crore has also been made for dividend payment, leaving Rs5,258 crore to be utilised for development fund and capital fund.

As per the budget estimates for 2011-12, the operating ratio is expected to be 91.1 per cent.