Indian Railway – Budget Highlights.

Indian Railways has published the results of the FY 2024 – 2025, along-with has projected the estimates for the FY 2025 – 2026, as per the details hereunder:

Railways estimates for RE 2024-25 and BE 2025-26.

Highlights RE 2024-25: –

Traffic throughput:

• Freight loading projected at 1635 MT vis-à-vis 1588.06 MT achieved in 2023-24.

• Freight Net Tonne Kilometres (NTKMs) increased to 938 billion in RE 2024-25 from BE 2024- 25 level of 930 billion.

• Originating passenger target in RE is kept at 7269.78 million against 6805.45 million achieved in 2023-24. Originating passengers in RE 2024-25 is 6.8% higher over 2023-24.

• Passenger Kilometres in RE 2024 – 25 are projected at 1204 billion against 1065 billion in 2023 – 2024.

(In Crores)

	2023-24	BE 2024-25	RE 2024-25
Loading (in MT)	1588.06	1650	1635
NTKM (in billion)	974	930	938
Originating Passenger (in million)	6805.45	7466.3	7269.78
PKM (in billion)	1065	1239	1204

Revenue receipts:

• Passenger revenue target kept at  80,000 crores with a growth of 13.2%.

• Goods revenue target is maintained at  1,80,000 crores which is 7% higher over 2023-24.

• Other Coaching target is retained 7,500 crores whereas Sundry revenue target increased to  11,000 crores from  10,500 crores kept in BE 2024-25.

• Gross Traffic Receipts increased by  500 crores from BE 2024-25 to  2,78,600 crores and higher over 2023-24 by  23,327.36 crores

• Miscellaneous receipts are retained at  400 crores

• Total receipts of IR in RE 2024-25 is  2,79,000 crores (growth of 8.9% over 2023-24).

Segment-wise earnings is given below:

( in crore)

	Actual2023-24	BE2024-25	RE2024-25
Passenger	70,693.33	80,000.00	80,000.00
Other Coaching	6,727.25	7,500.00	7,500.00
Goods	168,293.29	180,000.00	180,000.00
Sundry other revenue	9,652.44	10,500.00	11,000.00
Gross Traffic Receipts	255,272.64	278,100.00	278,600.00
Miscellaneous Receipts	820.78	400.00	400.00
Total Receipts	256,093.42	278,500.00	279,000.00

Revenue expenditure:

• Ordinary Working Expenses (OWE) provision in RE is increased by  3,000 crores over BE to  2,08,000 crores This reflects an increase of 8.8% over 2023-24 on account of higher expenditure under safety related maintenance heads.

• Appropriation to DRF from revenue kept at  800 crores.

• Appropriation to Pension Fund is  66,358.69 crores to meet pension expenditure.

• In RE 2024-25, a provision of  1358.69 crores are also made towards payment of interest of loan extended by MoF in 2020-21 for Covid related resources gap.

• Miscellaneous expenditure is estimated at  2,500 crores.

• Total revenue expenditure of IR is estimated at  2,77,658.69 crores against the BE provision of  2,75,700 crores

Net Revenue & Operating Ratio:

• Net revenue in RE 2024-25 is  1341.31 crores
• Operating Ratio in RE 2024-25 is 98.90%.
• Operating Ratio without payment of interest related to Covid loan would have been 98.41% and Net Revenue would have been  2700 crores in RE 2024-25.

Highlights BE 2025-26

Traffic throughput:

• Freight loading in BE 2025-26 is targeted at 1700 MT i.e., incremental loading of 65 MT or 4% higher over RE 2024-25.

• Projected NTKMs in BE 2025-26 is 967 billion against 938 billion in RE 2024-25.

• Originating passengers kept at 7574 million compared to 7270 million in RE 2024-25.

• PKM is projected to grow to 1311 billion from 1204 billion in RE 2024-25.

	2023-24	BE 2024-25	RE 2024-25	BE 2025-26
Loading (in MT)	1588.06	1650	1635	1700
NTKM (in billion)	974	930	938	967
Originating Passenger (In million)	6805.45	7466.3	7269.78	7573.56
PKM (in billion)	1065	1239	1204	1311

Revenue receipts:

• Passenger revenue is projected at  92,800 crores higher by  12,800 crores over RE 24-25.
• Goods revenue is projected to increase by 4.4% to  1,88,000 crores in 2025-26.
• Other Coaching and Sundry other revenues kept at  8,500 crores and  12,000 crores respectively.
• Gross Traffic Receipts are kept at  3,01,400 crores
• Miscellaneous receipts kept at  700 crores
• Total receipts of IR are thus kept at  3,02,100 crores at a growth of 8.3% over RE 2024-25.

Segment-wise earnings is given below:

( in crore)

	Actual 2023-24	RE 2024-25	BE 2025-26
Passenger	70,693.33	80,000.00	92,800.00
Other Coaching	6,727.25	7,500.00	8,500.00
Goods	168,293.29	180,000.00	188,000.00
Sundry other revenue	9,652.44	11,000.00	12,000.00
Gross Traffic Receipts	255,272.64	278,600.00	301,400.00
Miscellaneous Receipts	820.78	400.00	700.00
Total Receipts	256,093.42	279,000.00	302,100.00

Revenue expenditure:

• Ordinary Working Expenses (OWE) has been kept at  2,26,256 crores in BE 2025-26 which includes provision for Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).
• Appropriation to DRF from revenue increased to  1500 crores in BE 2025-26 from  800 crores in RE 2024-25.
• Appropriation to Pension Fund provisioned at  68602.69 crores in ensuing fiscal.
• Miscellaneous expenditure kept at  2,700 crores
• Thus, the total revenue expenditure of IR has been estimated at  2,99,059 crores

Net Revenue & Operating Ratio:

• Net revenue in BE 2025-26 is  3041.31 crores.
• Operating Ratio in BE 2025-26 is 98.43%.
• Operating Ratio without payment of interest related to Covid loan would have been 97.98% and Net Revenue would have been  4400 crores in BE 2025-26.

Capital Expenditure:

Capex provision in RE 2024-25 and BE 2025-26 is as under:

( in crore)

Source	RE 2024-25	BE 2025-26
GBS	2,52,200	2,52,200
Internal Resources	3,000	3,000
EBR (PPP)	10,000	10,000
Total	2,65,200	2,65,200

The segment-wise distribution of GBS is as under:

( in crore)

Source	RE 2024-25	BE 2025-26
Capacity Augmentation	113544	109939
Safety Related Works	38972	39456
Customer Amenities	12884	12004
Rolling Stock and Inventories	56859	56943
Other Plan Heads	29941	33858

The key focus areas for capital expenditure includes: Safety, Capacity augmentation, Customer amenities and Rolling stock upgradation.

1. Safety: Safety is a priority for IR. Expenditure on safety is incurred from various sources i.e. GBS, internal resources and revenue expenditure. Total expenditure on Safety related activities in RE 24-25 is  1,14,062 crores and in BE 25-26  1,16,514 crores

• Indian Railways is making a significant progress in network expansion by adding nearly by 4,000 km annually. Indian Railways has laid 31,180 km of new track during last 10 years.

• Electrification: Indian Railways is set to achieve 100% electrification in 2025, coinciding with the centenary of electrification on the Indian Railways (IR).

• Station redevelopment: More than 1300 stations are being redeveloped during the next 4 years. These stations will integrate both sides of the city, will have adequate Parking facilities, Multi- Modal Integration, High level platforms with improved surfaces and platform cover. These stations will have adequate facilities for Divyangjans along with Lifts and Escalators.

• Kavach: Indian Railways has adopted indigenously developed Kavach as National ATP system in 2020 and after indigenous development specification for Kavach Version 4.0 was approved in July’24. Work for Installation of Kavach on 10,000 locomotives has already started. Track side equipment for Kavach Version 4.0 on 3,000 Km route of New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi – Kolkata will be completed by Dec,2025 and work on remaining section is underway.

2) Physical capacity augmentation: targets for RE 2024-25 and BE 2025-26

Source	RE 2024 – 2025	BE 2025 – 2026
Construction of New Lines (Route Kms)	700	700
Gauge conversion (Route Kms)	200	200
Doubling of Lines (Route Kms)	2900	2600
Rolling Stock
a. (i) Diesel Locomotives	100	100
a. (ii) Electric Locomotives	1600	1600
b. Coaches	7910	9423
c. Wagons (vehicle units)	30000	38000
Track renewals (Track Kms)	5000	5500

3) Customer Amenities:

• Base Kitchens for improved catering: For improving the quality of food, about 900 Base kitchens are being set up. So far more than 600 Base Kitchens have been commissioned.

• Kumbh Mela: Railways are running 3,100 short and long-distance special trains in addition to 10,100 regular services to ensure seamless travel for millions of pilgrims. It is noteworthy that for the preparations for Mahakumbh – 2025 Indian Railways has deployed over 4000 crores in infrastructure upgrades.

4) Rolling Stock:

• Increasing capacity of non-AC coaches: To increase the capacity for travel of low-income group people, Railway has planned to manufacture 17,500 Non AC General and Sleeper Coaches. Non-AC Amrit Bharat trains with advanced features for affordable journey have been introduced by Indian Railways. 100 such trains are under manufacturing.

• LHB coaches: Conventional ICF coaches are being replaced by safer LHB coaches in a phased manner. It is planned to replace all balance ICF coaches with LHB coaches in the next 5 years to enhance safety to passengers.

• Vande Sleeper trains: First rake of Vande sleeper version is under testing. Further, 50 sleeper version rakes in 24-Car configuration are planned to be manufactured in 2025-26 & 2026-27. Manufacturing of 200 rakes has been planned through engaging Technology partner in IR production Units.

• Namo Bharat Rapid Rail is developed to cater the need of daily inter-city short distance movement as well as for suburban commuters, harnessing the features of Vande Bharat.

Railways Budget at a Glance in RE 2024-25 and BE 2025-26

	BUDGET AT A GLANCE
	(In crores)
No.	Actual 2022-23	Actual 2023-24			BE 2024-25	RE 2024-25	BE 2025-26
	63,416.85	70,693.33	(a)	Passenger	80,000.00	80,000.00	92,800.00
	5,958.32	6,727.25	(b)	Other Coaching	7,500.00	7,500.00	8,500.00
	162,262.90	168,293.29	(c)	Goods	180,000.00	180,000.00	188,000.00
	8,498.60	9,652.44	(d)	Sundry other revenue	10,500.00	11,000.00	12,000.00
	240,136.67	255,366.31	Total Traffic revenue		278,000.00	278,500.00	301,300.00
	– (154.11)	– (93.67)	Clearance from Traffic Outstanding’s		100.00	100.00	100.00
1	239,982.56	255,272.64	Gross Traffic Receipts		278,100.00	278,600.00	301,400.00
2	194.40	820.78	Miscellaneous Receipts		400.00	400.00	700.00
3	240,176.96	256,093.42	Total Receipts [1 + 2]		278,500.00	279,000.00	302,100.00
4	180,255.78	191,093.62	Ordinary Working Expenses		205,000.00	208,000.00	226,256.00
5	54,700.00	59,000.00	Appropriation to Pension Fund		67,000.00	66,358.69	68,602.69
6	700.00	800.00	Appropriation to D.R.F.		1,000.00	800.00	1,500.00
7	235,655.78	250,893.62	Total Working Expenses [4+5+6]		273,000.00	275,158.69	296,358.69
8	2,003.80	1,940.12	Miscellaneous Expenditure		2,700.00	2,500.00	2,700.00
9	237,659.58	252,833.74	Total Expenditure [7 + 8]		275,700.00	277,658.69	299,058.69
10	2,517.38	3,259.68	Net Revenue [3 – 9]		2,800.00	1,341.31	3,041.31
11			Appropriation of Net Revenue:
	1,000.00	1,500.00	Appropriation to Development Fund		1,000.00	421.31	1,041.31
	1,517.38	1,759.68	Appropriation to RRSK		1,800.00	920.00	2,000.00
12	98.10%	98.43%	Operating Ratio		98.22%	98.90%	98.43%

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