Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The iconic local trains of Mumbai might be described as a lifeline for crores of citizens who use them for commute every day, but the amount of money that the government loses on running them is staggering.

In reply to a question in this regard by a member of Lok Sabha, Minister of State of Railways Raen Gohain informed the Parliament that Railways incurred losses of more than Rs. 4,000 crores by running Mumbai suburban trains in the last three years.

Gohain’s written reply to a query said, “Indian Railway is incurring losses by running local train services in metropolitan areas of Mumbai. In the last three years, while the total earnings were Rs. 5,206.16 crores, the expenditure was Rs. 9,486.66 crores and the loss was of Rs. 4,280.50 crores.”

The Minister explained that by keeping 2,342 trains on Mumbai’s tracks to carry more than 7.5 million commuters daily, the Railways lost Rs. 1,426.19 crores in 2015-15, Rs. 1,477.55 crores the next year, and Rs. 1,376.76 crores last year.

During his budget speech last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced an expansion plan for Mumbai’s 465 km long train network for Rs. 11,000 crores. He had said that the government also plans to invest an additional amount of Rs. 40,000 crores soon.

By dhruv