INDIAN RAILWAYS
generates a cash surplus before Dividend of Rs. 20,000 crore in fiscal* 2006-07 signifying an impressive Rs. 5300 crore in a year from Rs. 14,700 cr. in the previous fiscal.

"The freight impact on industry is in the right direction and the general approach of the budget is to improve efficiency and output. The minister is taking innovative measures and if this tempo continues Railways will be one of the pillars of our growth in the coming years."  J. P. Choudhary, Chairman, CII-Railways Equipment Division

"The Railways are now working like a private sector corporation. We wish other public services, especially in the social sector, like education and health would follow suit," Habil Khorakiwala, President, FICCI

"The Budget proposal would give enough encouragement for huge capacity building of steel, cement and coal sectors." - Venugopal N Dhoot, President, ASSOCHAM

“The budget truly heralds a modern approach to managing the largest public service through use of technology and innovation.” - R.Seshasayee, President, CII

*India's fiscal year begins on April 1

RAILWAY ZONES

Central
Eastern
Northern
Northeast Eastern
North Frontier
Southern
South Central
South Eastern  
Western Railway
East Central
North Western
East Coast
South Western
North Central
West Central
South East Central
Metro Railway

Dynamic Commercial Policy

SUCCESSFUL implementation of dynamic pricing policy for freight loading which has yielded the expected results prompted the railways to make its commercial policy too as a dynamic one.

Dynamic Wharfage Rate

At present the wharfage rates and free time are the same at all terminals whether small or big, busy or unused. We have decided to increase free time allowed for loading and unloading and to reduce wharfage rates at under utilized small terminals.

Dynamic Demurrage Rate

Currently demurrage rates are uniform throughout the year though utilization of wagons is more during the peak season and less during non-peak season. We have, therefore, decided that during non-peak period on an experimental basis, at a few terminals, one hour extra free time will be given depending on the state of usage of the terminals.

Tariff Policy based on Traffic Route

More than half of the Railways traffic runs on high-density routes. Due to lack of traffic, two-thirds of Railways network is being utilized at far less than its capacity. It has now been decided that goods traffic originating and terminating on these underutilized routes will be given a discount on normal freight rates.

Liberalization of Wagon Investment Scheme

At present customers subscribing to wagon investment scheme and container train licensees have to buy their own wagons. It is proposed to allow any person to avail the benefit of these schemes by procuring or leasing wagons or containers. Currently wagon investment scheme is limited to open and covered wagons. In order to expand the scope of the scheme, we have decided to extend the benefits of the wagon investment scheme for all types of general-purpose wagon as well as special purpose wagons suitable for specific commodities. Proposals of charging of freight, on the basis of per train kilometre instead of per tonne kilometre, for wagons meant for lighter commodities like motor vehicles will also be considered.

Always on high alert

Adequate funds are being made available for Passenger Amenities and machinery and Plant plan heads for procuring necessary equipments and other resources for Railway security works.

Besides increasing the number of trained dogs in the existing dog squads, arrangements are being made for installing explosive detection devices, door-frames and hand-held metal detectors in many sensitive divisions of the country. Equipments like CCTV and smart video cameras have already been installed at sensitive stations.

Rs. 5,500 crore has been allocated towards Depreciation Reserve Fund for the year 2007-08 as compared to Rs. 2,100 crore provided in 2001-02. The number of accidents is expected to be less than 200 in 2006-07, against 473 in the year 2001 despite the fact that the gross traffic volume has increased from 724 million train kilometres in 2001-02 to 825 million train kilometres in 2005-06.

Rs. 17,000 crore Special Railway Safety Fund, most of the works of renewal of overaged tracks, bridges track circuiting and rolling stock would be completed by the end of the this fiscal and all remaining works are scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

The production of better crash worthy coaches has commenced. The number of such coaches would be increased to ensure the safety of passengers, the minister said in his Budget speech.

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