The Indian Railways, despite being hit by agitations and rail rokos this year, has overshot the earnings target by Rs 100 crore in financial year 2010-11.

“It was a difficult year because the Rail roko agitation (Jats demanding job reservations) hit us badly. But we have not only achieved the total earnings target, we have surpassed the figures by approximately Rs 100 crore,” the Railway Board Chairman, Mr Vivek Sahai, told reporters here.

Against the target of Rs 94,742 crore, the Railways' approximate total earnings stood at Rs 94,850 crore for 2010-11, he added.

Of this, freight earnings accounted for about Rs 62,900 crore against the target of Rs 62,489.33 crore. Passenger earnings also did well at approximately Rs 26,007 crore against the Rs 26,126.47 crore that we had set, Mr Sahai said. He expected the final figures to go up further.

He said the growth in earnings was primarily because of positive trends in loading of coal, foodgrains and fertilisers.

On new lines, he said this was the Railways' ‘best performance' so far. We have gained confidence for laying 25,000 km of new lines by 2020 as per the vision document, as 709 km of new lines have already been constructed this fiscal, he added.

However, he said that train punctuality still remained a concern in the Northern region, where it was reported at 30 per cent, compared with 80 per cent in other regions. In the Mumbai suburban section, the rate was around 98 per cent.

Accidents, too, had declined by 15 per cent during this year from 165 to 140.

On the improvements made by the Railways after the new catering policy, Mr Sahai said there were plans to set up 170 base kitchens across the country.

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