For the full fiscal year, Indian Railways has set a capex target of ₹2.65 lakh crore, expecting ₹80,000 crore from passenger revenues and ₹1.80 lakh crore from freight revenues. The 2024-25 budget has adjusted allocations for various projects, including modernizing Vande Bharat trains, addressing congestion, and enhancing energy, cement, and port connectivity.
Key allocations in the budget include:
₹21,000 crore for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
₹8,155 crore for the Dedicated Freight Corridor.
₹40,313.78 crore for rolling stock such as locomotives, wagons, and coaches.
By the end of October, Indian Railways has utilized 61% of its budgeted capital expenditure (capex) for the current fiscal year, amounting to ₹1.63 lakh crore. The national transporter has seen an upswing in earnings, with ₹1.02 lakh crore from freight and ₹46,374.5 crore from passengers, contributing to a 6.1% increase in total revenue, which reached ₹1.49 lakh crore.
On the expenditure side, revenue expenditure for the fiscal stood at ₹1.35 lakh crore till October-end, primarily covering staff salaries, pensions, and fuel costs. The Railways anticipates spending ₹1.18 lakh crore on staff costs, ₹65,000 crore on pensions, ₹10,817.34 crore on diesel, and ₹23,744.94 crore on electricity in fiscal 2024-25. Additionally, it will pay ₹21,806.47 crore in lease charges to the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC).
Passenger traffic has also shown significant growth, with a 5.94% increase in unreserved passengers, crossing 3.85 billion passengers this fiscal, and a 6.42% rise in reserved passengers, reaching 501.12 million. Indian Railways is aiming to carry 7.47 billion passengers for the entire fiscal year, up from 6.84 billion in the previous year.
