Bangladesh Railway fetches revenue despite pandemic

Revenue earning from freight transport and property rental sector has increased

Golam Mostafa Jibon:Though, the revenue from transportation of passengers by Bangladesh railway has halved due to impact of the corona epidemic in the last one and half year, the revenue earning from freight transport and property rental sector has increased several times despite the pandemic. As a result, it could not affect on the overall revenue of railways, insiders said.
Experts said, the railway of any country in the world cannot be profitable from passenger transport alone. Therefore, all have to look at other sectors as well. Last year, Bangladesh Railway followed by the same trend and this trend should continue. Due to the corona, the railways had to be closed for two financial years; sometimes it plied with half of passengers. Meanwhile, due to the second wave of corona, the train service was stopped for about three months in the fiscal year 2020-21. For the rest of the year, the train carries half of the passengers. This led to the collapse of railway passenger transport.
It is learned that, the lockdown started on April 5 due to the increase in corona infection. At first, it was relaxed for 10 days, but later the restrictions were tightened. However, the train service was stopped from April 5, which affected the revenue of the railways. Besides, most of the time in the last financial year, the train had been carried half of the passengers following the hygiene rules. Due to this, in the fiscal year 2020-21, the revenue of the railway in the passenger transport sector was Tk 531.14 crore.
But, the income of 2019-20 financial year was Tk 770.15 crore. In other words, in the last financial year, the revenue of the railway in the passenger transport sector has decreased by about Tk 239 crore or 31 percent.
Meanwhile, in the 2018-19 financial year, the revenue of the railways in passenger transport sector was Tk 1,035.24 crore. In other words, due to corona, the revenue of the railway in the passenger transport sector has come down by almost half in two years. However, the railways have recouped some of the huge losses in the transport and state or property sectors. In the last financial year, the transportation of goods by train continued during the corona pandemic. Especially goods transport by trains from India has increased a lot. Apart from this, the revenue of railways has also increased from property rent and sale of scrap.
In the last financial year, the revenue of railways in the freight transport sector (goods, parcels and traffic commercial) was Tk 403.30 crore.
In the financial year 2019-20, the income was Tk 289.72 crore. In other words, the revenue of railways in the freight transport sector has increased by 39.20 percent in the fiscal year 2020-21.
Even compared to the 2018-19 financial year, the revenue of the railways has increased by about 19 percent in the last financial year.
On condition of anonymity, a senior official of the marketing department of the railways said, the import of goods from India by trains has increased in the fiscal year 2020-21. In the last financial year alone, the revenue of the railways in this sector was about Tk 176 crore. Apart from food grains and industrial raw materials, oxygen has been imported from India through railway. Besides, transport of goods on the domestic routes of the country is on the rise. All in all, the revenue of the railways in transporting goods has increased a lot.
In the last financial year, a large amount of money has been added to the railway stock in the property rental sector. Income analysis shows that, in the last financial year, the income from railway land rent was Tk 64.39 crore.
In the financial year 2019-20, the income was Tk 33.39 crore. In other words, the income from land rent has increased by about 93 percent in the state sector.
In the last financial year, the revenue from the sale of railway scrap was Tk 48.88 crore, which was Tk 24.64 crore in the previous financial year. In other words, the revenue of the railways from the sale of scrap has increased by about 90 percent.
In all, the total revenue of the railways in the last financial year was Tk 1170.20 crore.
In the financial year 2019-20, the income was 1200.33 crore. In other words, the revenue of the railways has decreased by only Tk 30.11 crore in the last financial year.
In the 2018-19 financial year, the total revenue of the railway was Tk 1590.10 crore. As a result, the revenue of the railways in the fiscal year 2019-20 decreased by Tk 389.77 crore or 24.51 percent.
Railway experts see the increase in revenue in other sectors as positive despite the decline in revenue in the passenger transport sector in corona pandemic.
Work for Better Bangladesh Trust (WBBT) project officer and railway researcher Atiqur Rahman said, “It has not been possible to increase the revenue of railways in any country of the world only through passenger transport. Bangladesh Railway was an exception. Besides, the last financial year has emphasized on transport of goods and increase in income from land. It must continue. Then, the revenue of the railways can be increased rapidly.