Railways likely to earn Rs 20,000 profit in 2006: Minister

Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, Dec 20 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Railways R Velu today said the Indian Railways would earn an all time profit of Rs 20,000 crores, this year.

Inaugurating the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) at Srirangam Railway Station here this evening, he said last year the Railways had earned a total profit of Rs 13,500 crores. The profit included Rs 200 crore earning by way of collection of fine amount from the ticketless travelers.

Mr Velu said last year, UTS was introduced in 73 railway stations in Southern Railway (SR) and it was planned to introduce the system in 71 more railway stations during this financial year. In Tamil Nadu 53 railway stations, 14 in Kerala and one in Karnataka have this UTS facility. Overall, about 800 stations have the UTS across the country at present, he added.

He said the proposed Chennai-New Delhi ''Garib Rath,'' air-conditioned train with affordable cost is the third of its kind in the country for the middle class and poor commuters. The train would be introduced from March, 2007, he added.

The Railways Department had planned to establish 300 Budget Hotels, as a joint venture across the country, out of which 20 of them had been cleared.

Later, talking to newspersons here, the minister said rail services on the newly laid Tiruchirapalli-Pudukkottai broadgauge line in the Madurai Division would commence from January five, 2007.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, would formally inaugurate the rail services in this section, he added.

He said similarly the Thanjavur-Tiruvarur broadgauge line will be thrown open for rail traffic on December 28, 2006.

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