COVID-19: Railways revenue declined by 42.3% during April-August, says Goyal

• The revenue recorded by the Railways during the period stood at Rs 41,844.31 crore, Goyal informed the Lok Sabha

• The freight revenue earned by Railways to the end of August stood at Rs 39,648.02 crore, down almost 15 percent from Rs 46,433.37 crore in August 2019

New Delhi: In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian Railways' revenue has declined by 42.3 percent in the April-August period when compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, said Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. The revenue recorded by the Railways during the period stood at Rs 41,844.31 crore, Goyal informed the Lok Sabha in a written response. Upto the end of August, the number of originating passengers has been 1.27 percent of the corresponding period last year and freight loading has been 86.6 percent of the corresponding period last year.

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With a view to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Railways had discontinued the regular passenger train services from March 23 earlier this year. The operation of passenger train services remained suspended for 39 days, and resumed from May 1 in a calibrated manner, with the introduction of Shramik special trains, in keeping with the guidelines issued by the government.

Railways granted refund of Rs 3,371.50 crore to passengers

"The total amount of refund granted upto 10.09.2020 due to cancellation of tickets booked till 14th April, 2020 for journey period from 22.03.2020 to 12.08.2020 in regular time tabled trains, which were cancelled due to lockdown, was approximately Rs 3,371.50 crore," Goyal told the Parliament.

The freight revenue earned by Railways to the end of August stood at Rs 39,648.02 crore, down almost 15 percent from Rs 46,433.37 crore in August 2019.

The backdrop

Gradually, the Railways has resumed the operation of passenger train services as special train services, with 15 pairs of Rajdhani specials that began operations May 12 onwards, 100 pairs of special trains from June 1 onwards, 43 pairs of special trains from September 12 onwards, and 705 Suburban services (Central Railway-355 & Western Railway-350) from June 15 onwards.

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