Railways lowers target for passenger revenue, may earn less from freight too

NEW DELHI: Railways has estimated its earnings from passenger movement at Rs 87,300 crore in 2026-27, a little over 9% more than the revised estimate (RE) of the current financial year, as it continues to introduce more new-age Vande Bharat chair car & sleeper trains, and Amrit Bharat trains, in addition to adding other conventional trains.However, it has lowered the revenue from passenger transport for this year compared to the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 92,800 crore due to a 10.6% fall in kilometres that people travelled or are expected to travel by March 2026.Similarly, in the freight segment, the ministry has estimated earnings of around Rs 1.88 lakh crore in FY27, the same as the BE of FY26 and about 6% higher than the RE of the current fiscal year. Data also show that railways is likely to end up generating around Rs 1.78 lakh crore by March, around 5.5% less than the target set for the current year.Significantly, revenue from goods transport is set to fall short of the target despite railways not lowering the freight loading target of 1,700 million tonnes for this year. Data indicate that the revenue fall is due to a reduction of around 1% in the distance over which goods were transported by railways, meaning shorter hauls than initially estimated. Responding to a question on the earnings of the national transporter, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Monday that railways has continued to increase revenue from both passenger and freight movement.

He said revenue from passenger movement increased from Rs 70,693 crore in FY24 to Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2024-25 and that the RE for FY26 stands at Rs 80,000 crore.Similarly, in the freight segment, revenue has increased from Rs 1.68 lakh crore in FY24 to Rs 1.71 lakh crore in 2024-25 and has been pegged at Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the RE of the current fiscal year.On why railways is unlikely to meet the BE target, Vaishnaw said the govt always sets an “aspirational” target so that everyone works harder to perform better. He added that railways has continued registering net revenue for the past three years.