Railways loses Rs 3.9 crore everyday by running Mumbai locals
The national transporter lost Rs 4,000 crore over the last three years (Representational Image)
Railways incurred a loss of over Rs 4,000 crore in the last three years by running trains on the Mumbai suburban rail network, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha today, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said that since 2014-2017, railways had incurred a loss of Rs 4280.50 crore by running the suburban rail network in Mumbai.
“Indian Railway is incurring losses by running local train services in metropolitan areas of Mumbai. In the last three years, while the total earnings was Rs 5206.16 crore, the expenditure was Rs 9486.66 crore and the loss was of Rs 4280.50 crore,” Gohain said.
The amount translates to a loss of around Rs 3.9 crore everyday.
In Budget 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the expansion of the Mumbai suburban train network, spread over 465km, at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore.
Jaitley added that the government is also planning an additional suburban network of 150 km in the city at an estimated cost of Rs 40,000 crore, including elevated corridors in some sections.
Overall, budget 2018-19 allocated Rs 880 crore – the highest ever amount – for the construction of foot-over bridges. Similarly, the allocation of Rs 172 crore to CR and Rs 171 crores to WR for passenger amenities is also the highest.
The suburban railway in Mumbai, touted as the world’s busiest rail network, operates 2,342 local train services and carries more than 7.5 million commuters daily. This is the first time that the network is being expanded in a big way.
Gohain informed the House that while in 2014-2015, the national transporter lost Rs 1426.19 crore, the next year, it lost Rs 1477.55 crore and in 2016-2017, the railways incurred a loss of Rs 1376.76 crore.
