New Delhi [India], January 15 (ANI): The last ten years have been golden decade for the Indian Railways and the performance has been phenomenal, former Member (Traffic), Railway Board, Mohammad Jamshed has said, noting that freight movement has gone up compared to the previous decade from about 8,000 million tons to 12,000 million tons and the overall revenue has gone up to about Rs 18 lakh crore.
Mohammad Jamshed told ANI that Indian Railways has performed very well over the last few years, both on the passenger and freight sides.
He said capital expenditure has grown phenomenally in the last decade.
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“The last 10 years have been the golden decade of the Indian Railways. The performance delivered by the Railways is phenomenal. Freight has gone up compared to the previous decade from about 8,000 million tons to 12,000 million tons during the last 10 years, and if we look at the overall revenue, it has grown to Rs 18 lakh crore from Rs 8 lakh crore in the previous decade,” he said.
“Indian Railways have been doing well in the last couple of years, especially post COVID period on passenger as well as freight side. We have set the highest loading records at the same time on the passenger front, as per the statistics, which have not reached the pre covid level, but it is picking up. During this year, the target we have set is an ambitious 17 million tons and a passenger revenue target set around Rs 92,000 crore,” he added.
Mohammad Jamshed, who has held several important assignments in the Ministry of Railways on Northern, Eastern and Central Railways, including General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway, said safety is very important for any transportation network, and it should be economical, efficient and safe.
“There have been fewer accidents than last year. A lot of efforts and investments have been made in safety-related works, including mission Kavach,” he said.
Exuding confidence in Indian Railways for achieving its targets, the former Member of Railway Board said about one third of the revenue comes from the passenger segment, while the remaining two-thirds is generated through the freight segment.
“I am sure that with the best efforts, the Indian Railways would be able to achieve these targets during the year. Although they are extremely difficult on the freight side because the demand is all derived demand, Indian Railways doesn’t generate its own demand; it depends on the commodities and sectors and how they perform,” he said.
Mohammad Jamshed lauded the government for Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) towards the capital expenditure and said Railways has been able to utilise all these funds fully.
“Capex utilisation is very essential. In fact, 10 years back, it was thought that Indian Railways was suffering from capacity constraints in the system, and is not able to meet the demands of the industry and manufacturing sectors. Therefore, it was necessary that investments in infrastructure are made. These are the investments that come through the allocation given from the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) towards the capital expenditure of the Railways in terms of new lines to be laid, railway electrification, gauge conversion, metropolitan projects, ROBs, dedicated freight corridors,” he said.
“ The capital expenditure has phenomenally grown in the last one decade. Not only that but the significant change that has come in the last 2-3 years is that the entire Capex coming from the GBS, Railway does not have to go to the market for market borrowings, and its own revenue generation have been very limited due to various factors and ordinary working expenses going up etc. We have seen that in the last two years, Rs 2.50 lakh crore each year has been given towards its capital expenditure,” he added.
He also said that, based on its utilisation record, the Railways has a claim for additional capex.
“We have seen that Railways has been able to utilise all these funds of capital expenditure fully, and I am sure that with the performance of this year, it is going to end with 100 per cent utilisation of the allocations towards capital expenditure, Indian Railways certainly has a claim for an increase in capex,” he said.
The budget session of Parliament will begin on January 28 and the Union Budget will be presented on February 1. (ANI)