Railways’ financial health improved in last ten years, says Vaishnaw

Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said the financial health of the railways department has improved a lot in the last 10 years and it now has a small revenue surplus after meeting all costs.
Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said 5.04 lakh jobs were generated during the 2014-24 period while another 1.5 lakh employment is being provided in the third term of the government.
Vaishnaw said there have been concerted efforts in the last 10 years to increase freight traffic, enhance passenger revenue, besides controlling cost.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a lot of improvement in the financial health of the Indian Railways in the last 10 years,” he said while replying to a question by senior BJP member Laxmikant Bajpayee. Elaborating further, Vaishnaw said the railways staff cost stands around Rs 1.18 lakh crore for about 12 lakh employees while 18 lakh pensioners cost Rs 65,000 crore. The energy cost is Rs 32,000 crore, finance cost Rs 23,000 crore and maintenance cost Rs 8,000 crore.
The overall cost of railways is about Rs 2.74 lakh crore, he added.
“Railways is earning a small surplus after meeting all its costs because of the steps taken by the central government in the last 10 years,” Vaishnaw asserted.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the operating ratio was 98.22 per cent, gross traffic receipts Rs 2,65,114 crore and surplus Rs 2,660 crore, the minister informed in a written reply.
Vaishnaw said the Prime Minister’s decision to achieve complete electrification of the railway network has led to reduction in the energy cost besides providing immense environmental benefits. The energy (diesel and electrical) cost has reduced to about Rs 32,400 crore from Rs 37,841 crore four years ago, despite increase in freight traffic, he highlighted.
The minister said the railways is having a small revenue surplus because of efficiencies in operations, especially saving of Rs 5,500 crore in energy cost, better maintenance practice, and increase in freight traffic by 400 million tonnes.
Vaishnaw said the government is providing a subsidy of Rs 60,000 crore to all passengers. The subsidy level is at 45 per cent in the railway fare for passengers.
On employment creation, the minister said between 2014 and 2024, around 5.04 lakh crore jobs were provided.
In the third term of the Modi government, Vaishnaw said, the process of providing jobs to 1.5 lakh people is going on and there is a good progress in this direction.
He said the process of filing 18,000 vacancies of assistant loco pilots has been completed and their onboarding has begun.
Railways has created a war room to ensure actions against any complaint from the examination centres, the minister said.
Replying to another supplementary, Vaishnaw said the Modi government has given a lot of attention to the Northeast.
The Budget has been increased to Rs 11,486 crore from a mere Rs 2,000 crore in the UPA government, he added.