Railways make Rs 20,000 cr profit: Lalu

Presenting is fourth pro-poor Railway Budget in succession in the Lok Sabha amid protests by the opposition NDA over the Bofors issue, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday said that Indian Railways will make a profit of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) by March-end, as against Rs 14,700 crore (Rs 147 billion) during the fiscal year 2006-07.

The railway minister also said that:

• Railway interest surplus at Rs 10,227 crore
• Freight earning s up 17% in Apr-Dec
• Passenger traffic up 14% in Apr-Dec
• 60 MT extra freight loading in 2007
• To invest in 3 storey freight containers
• 15 private container licence issued
• Pipavah-Jaipur double-decker train to begin
• Tariff discount to up high axle output; to explore independent private tariff agency.
• Railways to reserve a quota of lower seats for senior citizens and for women aged more than 45 years.
• 20-30 per cent increase in passenger traffic
• All customer complaints to be disposed in three months
• Fund balance at Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion)
• Freight: Incremental loading of 60 million tonne this year
• Cement steel traffic up by 20 to 30 per cent
• High surplus recorded without load on common man
• Plan to start three-storey container trains
• Will invest massively in container operations over the next 5 years
• Lalu claims container train experiment has been successful
• Efforts to increase container traffic five-fold to 100 million tonnes by 2011-12
• Each zone will have a SP grade officer to look into consumer complaints
• Old wagons to be replaced by new ones
• To invest in improving infrastructure around railway stations
• Wooden seats to be replaced by cushioned ones in ordinary class passenger trains from next fiscal.

• Unreserved compartments in new trains to be increased from four to six

Railway Budget 2007-08: Complete Coverage