The Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda, while presenting the Railway Budget for 2014-15 in Parliament today, said that the financial position of Railways has undergone a change since presentation of Interim Budget and passing of the ‘Vote on Account’ in February last. He gave the details as under :- 

1. Since presentation of Interim Budget and passing of the ’Vote on Account‘ in February last, financial position has undergone a change. Railways carried 1050.18 million tonnes. Goods Earnings were short only by Rs. 94 crore. Originating passengers, also, were less by 46 million over Revised target and Passenger earnings were short by Rs. 968 crore over Revised target. 

2. Over all, though the Gross Traffic Receipts grew by 12.8% to reach Rs. 1,39,558 crore, it was short of Revised target by Rs. 942 crore. On the other hand, Ordinary Working Expenses stood at Rs. 97,571 crore, which was in excess by Rs. 511 crore. 

3. Appropriation to Pension Fund had to be stepped up to match the actual outgo. 

4. As a result, instead of ending the year with a surplus of Rs. 7,943 crore, the surplus was actually Rs. 3,783 crore i.e., a shortfall of Rs. 4,160 crore. This is after fulfilling the dividend commitment of Rs. 8,010 crore. 

5. The internal resource generation for Plan, in 2013-14, was Rs. 11,710 crore, as against Revised target of Rs. 14,496 crore. This is short by Rs. 2,786 crore. 

6 In 2013-14, there was a decline in traffic growth as compared to Revised projections. Expenditure however, shot up and was more than what was estimated. The Operating Ratio deteriorated by 2.7% over Revised target to touch 93.5% by end of 2013-14 fiscal. 

7. As far the Plan Expenditure for 2013-14 is concerned, it fell short of Revised target of Rs. 59,359 crore mainly due to non-materialization of PPP targets.