NEW DELHI: Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu is putting in place a short-term plan to increase rail revenue to Rs 2 lakh crore in next two years.The target looks like a tall order given that currently railways has an annual revenue of Rs 1.7 lakh crore and growth in passenger and freight segments have been tepid.However, the rail board and the minister are hopeful that it could be achieved by detailed planning and a more focused market approach. If achieved, the increased revenue will bring down the railway operation ratio to healthier levels of 90-91%.“We have already brought down freight rates so that we can increase market shares,” a top rail official said. “Also, with our new and improved passenger train services, we could gradually be preferred mode for India's rising middle class for short and medium distances of travel.”As per the roadmap, the national transporter will launch more super premium trains on high traction routes. The fares of these trains are going to be more than those of Rajdhani and Shatabdi , the official said. The target is to take the passenger revenue to Rs 56,000 crore from Rs 50,000 crore in the next two years, the person said. The railways also plans to increase the number of air-conditioned coaches on existing trains as the demand for the third AC class is rising.Railway wants its trains to be profitable sector wise, just like airlines, and hence is focusing on ramping up capacity in sectors where there is demand and where passengers are willing to pay surge prices during the peak season, the official said. The national transporter also wants to wipe out the huge passenger subsidy burden gradually and has been pushing for more funds from the finance ministry.Another target that minister Prabhu has set is to boost non-fare revenues that basically include revenues from advertising and monetisation of rail assets. The target is to get more than 10% of total revenue from this segment, the official said.With its newly launched non fare policy, which includes private brands and ecommerce firms tying up to use railways’ assets for advertising and other commercial exploitation, railways expects to get more than Rs 20,000 crore annually.It also plans to expand its freight basket to boost revenues. “The focus will be to reduce reliance on coal, which is currently almost 45% of total revenue,” the official said.“We want to tap the auto transportation market. We are already designing new rakes for auto sector which would improve our service and capacity,” the official said. “The demand for iron ore and steel is picking up. I think for the next two years, we'll see a lot of revenue from these segments,” the person said.The railway is also banking on the two dedicated freight corridors — eastern and western — being built at an investment of Rs 80,000-crore, which will add 3,300 km of fresh capacity to the rail network and will take away almost 70% of freight traffic from the existing network.“These freight corridors will decongest the existing network, after which we'll be able to run semi-high speed trains on corridors such as Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah,” an official from railway traffic services said. “It could lead to a huge boost in passenger revenue,” the person said.