Railways sees FY27 passenger, freight earnings rise, but FY26 falls short of Budget target

NEW DELHI: Railways has estimated its earnings from passenger movement at Rs 87,300 crore in 2026-27, little over 9% more than the revised estimate (RE) of current financial year as it continues to introduce more new-age Vande Bharat chair car and sleeper trains, and Amrit Bharat trains, in addition to to adding of other conventional trains.

However, it has lowered the revenue from passenger transport for this year than the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 92,800 crore, due to nearly 10.6% fall in kms that people travelled or will travel by March 2026.

Similarly, in the freight segment, the ministry has estimated earning of around Rs 1.88 lakh crore in FY 27, same that osf BE of FY26 and 6% higher than the RE of current fiscal year. Data also show that railways is likely to end up generating around Rs 1.78 lakh crore by March, around 5.5% less than the target it had set for the current year.

Significantly, the revenue from goods transport is set to fall short of target despite railways not lowering the freight loading target of 1,700 million for this year. Data indicates that the revenue fall is due to a reduction of around 1% fall in the distance of goods transported by railways, meaning there may be a shorter distance than what railways had initially estimated.

Responding to a question on the earnings of the national transporter, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday it has continued to increase revenue both from passenger and freight movement. He added that the revenue from passenger movement has increased from Rs 70,693 crore in FY 24 to Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2024-25 and the RE for FY 26 is Rs 80,000 crore. Similarly, in the freight segment, revenue has increased from Rs 1.68 lakh crore in FY 24 to Rs 1.71 lakh crore in 2024-25 and it has been pegged at Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the RE of this fiscal year.

On why the railways is unlikely to meet the BE target, Vaishnaw said govt always sets an “aspirational” target so that everyone works hard to perform better than earlier. He added that railways has continued registering net revenue for the past three years, which shows how well the national transporter is running its day-to-day operations.

As per the Budget document, with higher income, railways estimates to improve its operating ratio (OR) from 98.82% in the current fiscal year to 98.4% in FY 27. OR indicates the money spent for earning every Rs 100. The railways aims to close the next fiscal with Rs 3,000 crore net revenue, around 35% higher than Rs 1,957 crore estimates for FY 26.