What is railway budget

Gross Budgetary Support. Figure 6 : Source of funds - capital expenditure. The total proposed capital expenditure for is Rs 2,15, crore. For the first time since , the budgetary support from the central government will be higher than the borrowings.

Over the last few years, actual capital expenditure has been considerably less than the budget estimates Figure 7. Debt repayment.

Railways pays lease charges to IRFC. The lease charges have a principal and interest component. The principal component of the lease charges forms part of the capital expenditure of Railways. CAG had observed that ideally, the principal component of lease charges should be paid from the Capital Fund. The Ministry of Railways noted that appropriation to the Capital Fund is made from net revenue after meeting obligatory revenue expenditure.

CAG observed that utilisation of gross budgetary support for repayment of lease charges is not a healthy trend as it deprives Railways of additional investments in capital works. Future Capital Expenditure Requirements. The Ministry of Railways has prepared the National Rail Plan for augmenting its infrastructure during the period. It includes projects worth Rs The draft National Rail Plan envisages an additional capital expenditure worth Rs 5.

The draft National Rail Plan estimates that on average, funds available with Indian Railways for capital expenditure over the next five years will be: i about Rs 60, crore per annum as gross budgetary support, ii about Rs 7, crore per annum from internal resources, and iii a maximum of Rs 1,30, crore per annum from extra budgetary resources.

Dedicated Freight Corridors. High Speed Rail Corridors. Network improvements. Flyovers and Bypasses. Rolling Stock. Staff wages and pension. Allocation to the Pension Fund is estimated at Rs 53, crore, which is an annual increase of 6.

The Standing Committee on Railways noted that the new pension scheme implemented in to reduce the pension bill will show results only around For instance, proposals have been invited for private participation in the operation of passenger train services over origin-destination pairs of routes through the introduction of trains.

Lease Charges. The interest component of lease charges forms part of the revenue expenditure of Railways. Fuel and electricity. Appropriation to Funds. Appropriation to the DRF is intended to finance the costs of new assets replacing old ones. In the last few years, appropriation to DRF has declined Figure 8. In recent years, appropriation has also been less than the budget estimates Figure 9.

As per CAG , at the end of , the value of over-aged assets pending for replacement using this fund was estimated to be Rs 96, crore.

However, the actual appropriation to RRSK has been less than the requirement in all three years between and The Ministry of Railways mentioned that the desired level of appropriation to RRSK has not been made due to adverse resource position. Expenditure on Safety. The expenditure on safety includes revenue expenditure such as repairs and maintenance of tracks and wagons. It also includes capital expenditure such as track renewals, bridge works, creating level crossings, and road over bridges and under bridges Table 7.

In , Railways estimates to spend Rs 78, crore towards safety, an annual increase of 6. In , the capital expenditure towards safety-related works is estimated to register an annual increase of Table 7 : Expenditure on Safety in Rs crore. Revenue Surplus and Operating Ratio. Operating Ratio is the ratio of the working expenditure expenses arising from day-to-day operations of Railways to the revenue earned from traffic.

Therefore, a higher ratio indicates a poorer ability to generate a surplus that can be used for capital investments such as laying new lines or deploying more coaches.

The CAG noted that in , the decline in revenue surplus led to a decline in appropriation to the various funds managed by Railways from its internal resources. In the last decade, Railways has been struggling to generate a higher surplus. You can find out more by clicking this link. News Business Economy. Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.

Earlier, the railway budget and the Union Budget were presented separately. However, the long-run practice came to an end in , and the railway budget merged with the Union budget. The government is also expected to announce a few Tejas trains, a dedicated railway line to move agriculture goods and some infrastructural up-gradation of the railways. The government is also likely to focus more on launching high-speed private trains that would connect major tourist hubs, pilgrimage spots, and other strategically important areas.

The Centre is also expected to announce plans with respect to the bullet train network expansion in the country. Last year, the government had announced the bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad but the Covid pandemic stalled their plan.

It may also make a special allocation for 'green railways' projects to give a boost to railways' plan to turn fully green by Gomoh-Dankuni section of She further added the detailed project report would be undertaken in the first phase. Stressing on the passenger convenience and safety, she said the Railways would introduce the aesthetically-designed vistadome Linke Hofmann Busch coaches on tourist routes for better travel experience to passengers.

Finance minister also announced two new technologies — metro lite and metro neo — to provide metro services at much less cost with same experience, convenience in tier II and tier III cities and peripheral areas.

Alternate models of Mass transit in the form of metro lite, and metro neo will appeal to cities with narrower right of ways and with higher urban density.