Running Mumbai locals caused Rs. 4,000 crore loss to Railways
Soon after the Union Budget announced about the expansion of the suburban Mumbai rail network, the government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that the national transporter has incurred a loss of above Rs. 4,000cr in the last three years in running the Mumbai locals. Minister of State for Railways Raen Gohain said that since 2014-2017, railways had incurred a loss of Rs. 4,280.50cr.
What did Raen Gohain write to the Lok Sabha?
Raen Gohain said, "Indian Railway(s) is incurring losses by running local train services in metropolitan areas of Mumbai. In the last three years, while the total earnings were Rs. 5206.16 crore, the expenditure was Rs. 9486.66 crore and the loss was of Rs. 4280.50 crore."
Finance Minister Jaitley announced Rs. 11,000 crore for expansion
In the Budget 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the expansion of the Mumbai suburban train network, spread over 465km, at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore, and said the government also planned to allocate an additional Rs. 40,000 crore for the city's rail network. The suburban railway in Mumbai operates 2,342 local train services and carries more than 7.5 million commuters daily.
MoS Gohain also gave detailed information about the loss
According to reports, this is for the first time that the suburban rail network in Mumbai is being expanded in such a big way. Gohain informed the House that while in 2014-2015, the national transporter lost Rs. 1,426.19 crore, the next year, it lost Rs. 1,477.55 crore and in 2016-2017, the railways incurred a loss of Rs. 1,376.76 crore.
