Indian railways earned 45 percent more in FY 21-22 from special trains

Indian Railways have earned Rs. 17,526.48 crores from special train services in 2021-2022. This is almost 45 percent of the total passenger revenue in the financial year.

The railways ran only special train services when it resumed passenger train operations post the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020 in a bid to discourage people from traveling in the pandemic.

According to the reply to an RTI application filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the Railways said that in the pre-pandemic year 2019-2020, it earned Rs. 804.78 crores from running special trains; in the pandemic year 2020-2021, the amount soared to Rs. 12,02,7.81 crores and in 2021-2022, the revenue was Rs. 17,526.48 crores.

From the sale of passenger tickets, the Railways generated a total revenue of Rs.50,669.09 crores in 2019-2020. However, this dropped to Rs.15,248.49 crores in the following year hit by the pandemic. The special trains which are usually operated during the festivals or during all India exams or certain special events come at increased fares.

While the Railway was running all its services under the special train tag since the outbreak, it normalised operations in November 2021.

The RTI report shows that in 2021-2022, the revenue from passenger trains also increased substantially over the four quarters as more special trains were introduced.

As mentioned in a report published by Outlook, in the first quarter of fiscal 2021-22, the passenger revenue was Rs.4,911.11 crores. It was Rs.10,513.07 crores in the second year, Rs.11,873.42 crores in the third and the final quarter was Rs.11,796.81 crores. With this, it took the total to around Rs.39,104.41 crores for the year.

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