The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda, while presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15 in Parliament today, said that the financial position of Railways has undergone a change since presentation of Interim Budget and passing of the ‘Vote on Account’ in February last. He gave the details as under :-

1. Since presentation of Interim Budget and passing of the ’Vote on Account‘ in February last, financial position has undergone a change. Railways carried 1050.18 million tonnes. Goods Earnings were short only by ₹ 94 crore. Originating passengers, also, were less by 46 million over Revised target and Passenger earnings were short by ₹ 968 crore over Revised target.

2. Over all, though the Gross Traffic Receipts grew by 12.8% to reach ₹ 1,39,558 crore, it was short of Revised target by ₹ 942 crore. On the other hand, Ordinary Working Expenses stood at ₹ 97,571 crore, which was in excess by ₹ 511 crore.

3. Appropriation to Pension Fund had to be stepped up to match the actual outgo.

4. As a result, instead of ending the year with a surplus of ₹ 7,943 crore, the surplus was actually ₹ 3,783 crore i.e., a shortfall of ₹ 4,160 crore. This is after fulfilling the dividend commitment of ₹ 8,010 crore.

5. The internal resource generation for Plan, in 2013-14, was ₹ 11,710 crore, as against Revised target of ₹ 14,496 crore. This is short by ₹ 2,786 crore.

6 In 2013-14, there was a decline in traffic growth as compared to Revised projections. Expenditure however, shot up and was more than what was estimated. The Operating Ratio deteriorated by 2.7% over Revised target to touch 93.5% by end of 2013-14 fiscal.

7. As far the Plan Expenditure for 2013-14 is concerned, it fell short of Revised target of ₹ 59,359 crore mainly due to non-materialization of PPP targets.

Operating ratio deterioration signals railway financial shortfall and reduced internal resources, impacting planned capital expenditure and PPP targets. Traffic volumes and passenger earnings were below revised targets while goods earnings were marginally short, yielding Gross Traffic Receipts that missed the revised target; ordinary working expenses and higher Pension Fund appropriation raised costs, producing a substantially lower surplus after dividend. The Operating Ratio deteriorated and internal resource generation for the Plan fell short, while Plan expenditure under ran largely because PPP targets did not materialize.