Railways eyes revenue of Rs 2.7 lakh cr

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has envisaged more than doubling the railways ’ share in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 3% in the next 10 years. The country’s GDP is seen at Rs 90 lakh crore by the year 2020.

“With GDP at this level, the Indian Railways has the potential to grow to around Rs 2,70,000 of revenue,” said the Vision 2020 document of the railways , tabled by Banerjee in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

Going forward, the Railways has identified targets to be achieved in the next 10 years.

“More than 30,000 km of routes would be of double/ multiple lines, compared with 18,000 km now. Of this, more than 6,000 km would be quadrupled lines with segregation of passenger and freight services into separate double line corridors,” said the document.

The ministry also plans to complete additional electrification of 14,000 km in 10 years.

To attain these goals, the white paper also talks about corporatisation of the Indian Railways. Speaking on how to attain this, Akhileswar Sahay, president, infrastructure advisory division at Feedback Ventures, said: “Whatever social cost is imposed on the railways  because of political decisions need to be accounted for and the Railways  should be compensated for that.”

The Vision 2020 document also bets big on freight services. “The Railways will increase the share in freight movement to at least 50%, compared with 35% now. Railways will establish partnerships with major logistics providers and close linkages with customers.

The Railways would expand into new commodities like automobiles, fly ash and automobiles, among others,” the document added.

“The dedicated freight corridors on the eastern (Ludhiana-Dankuni) and western (Mumbai-Delhi) routes would be operational well before 2020. In addition, we plan to start work on the north-south (Delhi-Chennai), east-west (Howrah-Mumbai), southern (Chennai-Goa) and east coast (Kharagpur-Vijaywada) corridors soon,” the document said.

In what could serve as a golden opportunity for the private sector, the Railways is planning to come out with public-private partnership in high-speed rail corridors. “The vision aims at raising the speed of regular passenger trains to 160-200 kmp on segregated routes. It also envisages the implementation of at least four high-speed rail projects to provide bullet train services at 250-350 kmph — one in each of the four regions of the nation — and planning for at least eight more corridors connecting commercial, tourist and pilgrimage hubs,” said the report.

The Railways has already identified six corridors for technical studies.

The corridors are Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai, Howrah-Haldea, Chennai-Bangalore-Ernakulam and Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Patna.

“These could be built as elevated corridors in keeping with the pattern of habitation and the constraint of land in our country,” said the document.