Railways needs Rs 3 trn yearly investment to meet India's aspirations: Govt

 The Railways will need to target revenue of Rs 3.5 lakh crore and an investment of Rs 3-lakh crore every year to meet the country’s aspirations, the government told the Rajya Sabha

The Railways will need to target revenue of Rs 3.5 lakh crore and an investment of Rs 3-lakh crore every year to meet the country’s aspirations, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. During a discussion on the working of the ministry, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw attacked opposition members and past governments, alleging they only talked about vision and preparing concept notes, but did not take any action to implement them.

The minister said that to meet the aspirations of the country, its citizens and the future generation over the next 10 years, the Railways will have to target to ferry 1,000 crore passengers every year from about 800 crore currently, and increasing the cargo load from 140 crore tonne to 300 crore tonne.

“If we won’t do it then we will never be able to cross-subsidize passenger fare,” he said. Vaishnaw said the cost of passenger fare and services comes to around Rs 1.16 per kilometre but railway charges only 48 paise per kilometre and around Rs 62,000 crore social obligation subsidy is given on passenger fares…Read More