Indian Railways Passenger and Freight Earnings Down in 8 Months of FY20

Slowing demand and pessimistic economic outlook have upset the Indian Railways’ financial plans for the year, as freight and passenger earnings have not only missed targets but also declined as compared to the same period last year.

Overall freight loading has seen a decline of 1.3% as compared to last year and is short of the target for the period by a significant 5.4%.

Indian Railways Freight Loading (in Million Tons)

S. N.	Railway	Actual upto  November  2018	Target upto November 2019	Actual upto November 2019	(%)  Variation over Last Year	(%)  Variation over Target
1	CR	39.88	42.44	39.2	-1.71	-7.63
2	ER	41.88	45.65	40.86	-2.44	-10.5
3	ECR	87.57	93.24	96.47	10.16	3.47
4	ECoR	123.8	129.9	127.7	3.2	-1.66
5	NR	33.83	34.72	32.45	-4.08	-6.54
6	NCR	10.2	10.45	10.06	-1.37	-3.72
7	NER	1.3	1.41	1.52	16.92	7.45
8	NFR	6.28	6.56	6.38	1.59	-2.72
9	NWR	15.47	15.11	11.05	-28.6	-26.9
10	SR	23.97	24.43	20.97	-12.5	-14.2
11	SCR	78.46	82.3	71.59	-8.76	-13
12	SER	101.1	105.5	110.7	9.48	4.99
13	SECR	121.7	124.7	108.6	-10.8	-12.9
14	SWR	23.33	24.82	24.91	6.77	0.36
15	WR	55.58	56.58	52.43	-5.67	-7.34
16	WCR	26.08	27.01	25.5	-2.22	-5.58
17	KRCL	1.27	1.45	1.31	3.15	-9.45
IR	Total	791.7	826.3	781.8	-1.3	-5.4

Similarly, Passengers Booked till November 2019 have declined 1.3% from the same period last year and are short of the target by 3%.

Passengers Booked from April to November 2019 (In Millions)

S. No.	Railway	Actual upto  November  2018	Target upto November 2019	Actual upto November  2019	(%)  Variation over Last Year	(%)  Variation over Target
1	CR	1220	1250	1202	-1.4	-3.8
2	ER	846.2	866.9	851.1	0.6	-1.8
3	ECR	170.1	171	168.9	-0.7	-1.3
4	ECoR	66.24	66.65	65.99	-0.4	-1
5	NR	387	388.8	378.1	-2.3	-2.8
6	NCR	116.6	117.3	112	-4	-4.5
7	NER	129.3	130.1	133.4	3.1	2.5
8	NFR	73.55	74.01	75.75	3	2.4
9	NWR	124.5	125.4	125.9	1.1	0.4
10	SR	559.7	568.3	549.3	-1.9	-3.3
11	SCR	258.8	261.2	252.4	-2.5	-3.4
12	SER	179.4	182.7	175.6	-2.1	-3.9
13	SECR	83.31	84.24	79.73	-4.3	-5.4
14	SWR	132.3	133.1	128.3	-3	-3.6
15	WR	1065	1090	1045	-1.9	-4.2
16	WCR	93.14	93.72	91.7	-1.5	-2.2
17	METRO	142.9	147	144.8	1.4	-1.5
IR	Total	5648	5751	5580	-1.2	-3

In keeping with freight loading performance, freight earnings have also declined by 4.3% compared to the same period last year, and have fallen short of the current year’s targets by a significant 19.7%.

Freight Earnings (In Crore Rupees)

S. N.	Railway	Actual  upto (November) 2018	Target upto (November) 2019	Actual upto (November) 2019	(%) Variation w. r. t.  Last year	(%) Variation w. r. t.  target
1	CR	5041	5469	4547	-9.8	-16.9
2	ER	2456	3387	2419	-1.5	-28.6
3	ECR	5827	8024	5198	-10.8	-35.2
4	ECoR	8994	11219	9918	10.3	-11.6
5	NR	4635	5470	4372	-5.7	-20.1
6	NCR	5942	7512	5281	-11.1	-29.7
7	NER	995.9	1104	942.2	-5.4	-14.7
8	NFR	1171	1512	1207	3.1	-20.2
9	NWR	3045	3479	2758	-9.4	-20.7
10	SR	1963	2236	1836	-6.5	-17.9
11	SCR	7383	8842	6407	-13.2	-27.5
12	SER	7988	9054	8739	9.4	-3.5
13	SECR	7831	8706	7775	-0.7	-10.7
14	SWR	1730	2079	1903	10	-8.5
15	WR	4569	5040	3382	-26	-32.9
16	WCR	5466	6310	5116	-6.4	-18.9
Total IR	Total	75038	89442	71800	-4.3	-19.7

However, a silver lining has been visible with passenger earnings. Indian Railways improved passenger earnings by an average of 4% over the same period last year but fell short of the target for the same period by 5.3%.

Passenger Earnings (In Crore Rupees)

S. N.	Railway	Actual up to (November) 2018	Target up to (November) 2019	Actual  up to (November) 2019	(%) Variation w. r. t.  Last year	(%) Variation w. r. t.  target
1	CR	3737.34	4100.38	3851.74	3.1	-6.1
2	ER	1568.18	1748.05	1634.76	4.2	-6.5
3	ECR	1701.21	1802.86	1764.06	3.7	-2.2
4	ECoR	1015.86	1083.79	1048.38	3.2	-3.3
5	NR	4351.5	4859.64	4414.75	1.5	-9.2
6	NCR	3276.12	3628.09	3361.19	2.6	-7.4
7	NER	1088.01	1204.79	1172.42	7.8	-2.7
8	NFR	897.16	957.41	941.22	4.9	-1.7
9	NWR	1407.77	1553.39	1443.12	2.5	-7.1
10	SR	2957.09	3248.94	3219.89	8.9	-0.9
11	SCR	3443.1	3808.93	3682.27	6.9	-3.3
12	SER	1104.91	1226.29	1156.59	4.7	-5.7
13	SECR	761.61	832.31	805.97	5.8	-3.2
14	SWR	1030.74	1119.2	1098.45	6.6	-1.9
15	WR	3125.78	3391.11	3195.61	2.2	-5.8
16	WCR	2298.47	2522	2327.06	1.2	-7.7
17	Metro	135.29	150.09	136.57	0.9	-9
Total IR		33900.14	37237.27	35254.05	4	-5.3

Overall, Indian Railways earnings for the period from April to November 2019 were short by 0.3% compared to last year but 16% below targets. The overall earnings include freight, passenger, other coaching and sundry earnings from various operational sources.

S. N.	Railway	Actual up to (November) 2018	Target up to (November) 2019	Actual up to (November) 2019	(%) Variation w. r. t.  Last year	(%) Variation w. r. t.  target
1	CR	9393.88	10443.47	9489.4	1	-9.1
2	ER	4350.17	5701.96	4410.54	1.4	-22.6
3	ECR	7677.76	10024.72	7325.65	-4.6	-26.9
4	ECoR	10189.84	12549.26	11154.09	9.5	-11.1
5	NR	10024.27	12822.88	9140.86	-8.8	-28.7
6	NCR	9424.44	11474.92	8884.4	-5.7	-22.6
7	NER	2211.24	2438.75	2252.78	1.9	-7.6
8	NFR	2272.3	3174.08	3221.38	41.8	1.5
9	NWR	4736.69	5479.17	4639.82	-2	-15.3
10	SR	5445.37	6180.4	5622.55	3.3	-9
11	SCR	11233.12	13167.27	10485.5	-6.7	-20.4
12	SER	9368.55	10661.42	10193.76	8.8	-4.4
13	SECR	8714.85	9745.59	8685.55	-0.3	-10.9
14	SWR	3002.84	3574.27	3225.31	7.4	-9.8
15	WR	8444.54	9330.32	7663.61	-9.2	-17.9
16	WCR	7956.1	9082	7644.32	-3.9	-15.8
17	Metro	149.47	175.74	158.42	6	-9.9
Total IR		114595.43	136026.22	114197.94	-0.3	-16

With limited success in reduction of working expenses, it remains to be seen how capex and maintenance work planned for the year will be impacted.