Railways’ financial health improves in last 10 years: Vaishnaw in RS

New Delhi: Union Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said the financial health of the railways department has improved a lot in the last 10 years and it now has a small revenue surplus after meeting all costs.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said 5.04 lakh jobs were generated during the 2014-24 period while another 1.5 lakh employment is being provided in the third term of the government.

Vaishnaw said there have been concerted efforts in the last 10 years to increase freight traffic, enhance passenger revenue, besides controlling cost.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been a lot of improvement in the financial health of the Indian Railways in the last 10 years,” he said while replying to a question by senior BJP member Laxmikant Bajpayee.

Elaborating further, Vaishnaw said the railways staff cost stands around Rs 1.18 lakh crore for about 12 lakh employees while 18 lakh pensioners cost Rs 65,000 crore. The energy cost is Rs 32,000 crore, finance cost Rs 23,000 crore and maintenance cost Rs 8,000 crore.

The overall cost of railways is about Rs 2.74 lakh crore, he added.

“Railways is earning a small surplus after meeting all its costs because of the steps taken by the Central government in the last 10 years,” Vaishnaw asserted.