New Delhi
Railways have projected the passenger revenue to reach Rs 92,800 crore in FY 2025-26 with a growth of 16%. Railways hopes that the increasing demand for AC 3 class and premium trains including Vande India will boom from passengers. In contrast, the income from freight transportation is expected to increase a slight increase of 4.4%. According to the budget documents, the part of the passenger income in the total revenue of the railway was 26.4% in 2022-23, which has increased to 28.6% in the revised estimate of the current financial year and it is estimated to increase by 30.6% in FY 2026. .
However, income from freight transportation remains the main source of railway earnings. Data shows that by March the income from AC3 tickets can reach Rs 30,089 crore, which is about 20% more than the last financial year. Railways have estimated that in FY 2026, this segment will increase the revenue by 23% and there will be an income of Rs 37,115 crore. According to the documents, there has been a significant increase in the income from Executive Class and AC Chair Car Class in two years and it is expected to rise further.
Benefits from all classes
Revenue from passengers traveling in Executive Class by March is estimated to reach Rs 698 crore, which is 42% more than the previous financial year. It is estimated to increase to Rs 987 crore in FY 2026. Similarly, the AC chair car is estimated to be Rs 4,280 crore by the car by March, which will cross the budget estimate (BE) of 2024-25 and will increase by 28.6% as compared to the previous year. According to the estimate of FY 2026, the income will be around Rs 5,626 crore, which is an increase of 31%.
Railway officials said that passenger revenue will increase from all classes as the railway will run more trains with general coaches to meet the demand for poor and lower middle class. According to the data, the estimated revenue from general coaches in inter-city coaches for FY 2025 is Rs 1,517 crore, which is almost twice the last financial year.
Will the fare increase?
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has rejected any possibility of increasing fares. He says that growth in passenger revenue will be inspired by an increase in the number of passengers. The number of passengers is increasing every year and this year the total number of passengers is expected to increase to 7.5 billion. The next year the number will be around 7.8-7.9 billion passengers. Therefore revenue growth will depend entirely on the number of passengers.
