Rail Budget 2014: Centre proposes highest plan outlay for railways

New Delhi: Government on Tuesday proposed “highest ever” plan outlay of Rs 65,445 crore to the railways for the current fiscal, with a budgetary support of over Rs 30,000 crore.

Presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15, railway minister Sadananda Gowda said the “highest ever plan outlay” would include market borrowing of Rs 11,790 crore and internal resources of Rs 15,350 crore.

Another Rs 6,005 crore would be mopped up through public private partnerships (PPP) mode, while railways would create a safety fund of Rs 2,200 crore. As per Budget Estimates for 2014-15, total receipts are projected at Rs 1,64,374 crore, while total expenditure at Rs 1,49,176 crore.

Operating ratio would be 92.5 per cent, which is an improvement of 1 per cent over the last fiscal. While passenger traffic grew by 2 per cent, passenger earnings stood at Rs 44,645 crore after revenue foregone of Rs 610 crore on account of rollback in monthly season ticket fares, Mr Gowda said, adding freight earnings are estimated at Rs 1,05,770 crore for this fiscal.

The expenditure on pension is pegged at Rs 28,850 crore, while Rs 9,135 crore would be spent on dividend payment. Meanwhile, Indian Railways will borrow less at Rs 11,790 crore from market through its two companies IRFC and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd for capital expenditure during 2014-15.

The estimated market borrowing by these two firms during current fiscal were pegged at Rs 13,800 crore from markets, as per the interim Railway Budget for 2014-15 tabled in February. Thus, there has been downward revision in the market borrowing plan by Rs 2,010 crore for the current fiscal.