Bangladesh Railway (BR) has announced a significant increase in revenue for the 2025–26 fiscal year, recording a TK 221 crore rise despite passenger fares remaining unchanged for the past decade. The total revenue for the year stood at TK 2,066.38 crore, up from TK 1,845 crore in the previous fiscal year. This growth was achieved through various initiatives and improved management, highlighting positive progress in the railway's financial management.
The largest contributor to this revenue increase was passenger transport, which generated an additional TK 256 crore compared to the previous fiscal year. However, revenue from freight transport declined by TK 8.34 crore due to a shortage of locomotives. Additionally, income from land and property increased by TK 3 crore, while revenue from optical fibre leasing rose by TK 11.52 crore.
On the other hand, revenue from the transport and commercial sector, including vending licenses and miscellaneous income, declined by approximately TK 24.34 lakh. Despite these fluctuations, the overall revenue increase is a notable achievement for BR.
BR's total operating expenditure for the 2025–26 fiscal year amounted to TK 3,955 crore, which includes salaries, allowances, pensions, railway track maintenance, and rolling stock maintenance. The operating ratio, which measures expenditure against revenue, improved to 1.91 from 2.09 in the previous fiscal year. This indicates that the gap between income and expenditure has narrowed.
Railway officials argue that if fares were revised in line with other public transport services, the financial gap could be further reduced. They emphasize that evaluating BR solely as a loss-making organization is not realistic given the current economic context and the subsidized nature of railway fares.
