Railway Budget 2012-13: Targeting freight carriage of Rs 89,339 cr, says Dinesh Trivedi

NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday said that the government was targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs 89,339 crore. During his Railway Budget presentation in the Lok Sabha, he said that passenger earnings were estimated at Rs 36,073 crore and gross receipts estimated at Rs 1.32 lakh crore.

He also said that World Bank funding of Rs 6,500 crore was firmed up for dedicated freight corridors. The Railways has acquired 3,300 km of land for the project and first contracts will be handed out during 2012-13.

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Last week, the Railways hiked freight rates across the board, the move will help it earn between Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore in the next fiscal.

The hike varied from commodity to commodity ranging between 15 per cent to 35 per cent. While for coal and cement, the hike is between 18 per cent to 24 per cent, for foodgrains and fertliser, the increase is between 20 per cent to 35 per cent.

Railways increased the freight rate in all commodities including foodgrains, fertiliser, cement, coal, and petroleum products. However, it had reduced freight rate for iron ore export by 16 per cent while there was an increase by 20 per cent for domestic consumption.