Railways posted a robust 2.38 per cent growth in revenue earnings during the first ten days of this month by generating over Rs 2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion), officials said in New Delhi on Monday.
The total revenue earnings from May 1 and 10 stood at Rs 2,207 crore (Rs 22.07 billion) as compared to Rs 2,156 crore (Rs 21.56 billion) during the corresponding period last year, said a senior railway ministry official.
Of this, it earned Rs 1,474 crore (Rs 14.74 billion) from goods traffic, which was an increase of 1.70 per cent as compared the corresponding period last year and Rs 629.44 crore (Rs 6.29 billion) from the passenger revenue earnings, which was also an increase of 3.10 per cent then the same period last year.
Approximate number of passengers booked from May 1 to 10 also showed an increase of 3.49 per cent as more than 20 crore (200 million) passengers reserved berths as against 19 crore passenger bookings during the same period last year, the official said.
However, passenger bookings in the suburban and non-suburban sections registered a decline of 2.80 per cent, the official said, which he said was due to the combination of several factors.
During the 2008-09 financial year, Railways earned over Rs 53,000 crore (Rs 530 billion) from transportation of commodities and other items, of which Rs 20,000 alone came from coal transportation.
