Railways in Union Budget 2022-23

Tags: Economics/Business

The Railway budget was introduced as a separate budget by the Britishers in 1924 on the recommendation of William Ackworth committee as railways contributed a significant amount to the Indian government revenue and the British had invested considerable amounts in Railways. In 2017 on the recommendation of NITI Aayog the Railway budget was merged with the General Budget.

Financial Highlights 

• The Railway Ministry has been allocated Rs 1,40,367.13 crore in the Union Budget 2022-23, which is 27.5% higher than the budgetary allocation of Rs 110,054.64 crores in 2021-22 or 16.9%  more than the revised estimate of 120,056.12 crore 
• The operating ratio target for railway has been set at 96.68% in 2022-23. In the revised estimate 2021-22 it was 98.93% Operating Ratio in simple terms means the amount spent to earn Rs 100. The lower the Operating ratio the more efficient is the railway  
• This year, the Finance Ministry has laid out capital investment worth Rs 2.45 lakh crore from Railways, in which around Rs 1.08 lakh crore will be raised through Extra Budgetary Resources.
• The Finance Minister has also allocated Rs 15,710.44 crore to the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

• In the Budget, Rs 13,335.47 crore has been allocated for track renewal, Rs 2,850 crore for gauge conversion and Rs 12,108 crore for doubling and Rs 25,243 crore has been allocated for new lines.

Revenue Generation

• As per the Budget documents, the Railways expects receipts comprising revenues from passengers, goods etc, to be 2.40 lakh crore in Budgetary Estimates 2022-­23 as against Revised Estimates 2021-­22 of 2.02 lakh crore. 
• It expects passenger revenue of 58,500 Crore in 2022­-23, and goods revenue to be about 1,65,000 crore from an ambitious target of 1,475 million tonnes of freight.

Targets for Railways 

• 6500 km of routes to be electrified in 2022-23
• 300 km new line to be constructed in 2022-23
• 1700 km existing single line to be doubled in 2022-23
• 2,000 km network will be brought under Kavach — an indigenous Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) developed for safety, in 2022-­23. (Kavach is SIL4 (Safety integrity level) certified which means there is the probability of a single error in 10,000 years.)
• 400 new ­generation Vande Bharat trains with better energy efficiency and ride experience will be developed and manufactured during the next three years. This is in addition to 102 Vande Bharat trains already in the pipeline.

• 100 PM GatiShakti Cargo Terminals for multimodal logistics facilities will be developed during the next three years(Multi-modal logistics means the inter linking of various modes of transport like air, road, rail, water for efficient movement of goods from one place to another.)

Other new initiatives 

• Postal and Railways networks will be integrated to provide seamless solutions for the movement of parcels.
• Railways will develop ‘One Station­ - One Product’ concept  to carry local products  to help local businesses & supply chains.
• Railways will introduce new products and services for small farmers and businesses.