Railway employees will receive a bonus equivalent to their 78 days' salaries, a move that will benefit more than 11.07 lakh non-gazetted staff of the national transporter, the government announced on Wednesday.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB), equivalent to 78 days' wages, for the financial year 2022-23 for all eligible non-gazetted railway employees," Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said here.

The decision will benefit track maintainers, loco pilots, train managers (guards), station masters, supervisors, technicians, technician helpers, pointsmen, ministerial staff and other Group 'C' staff, excluding the RPF and RPSF personnel.

The payment of the bonus is expected to cost the exchequer Rs 1,968.87 crore, Thakur said.

"In recognition of an excellent performance by the railway staff, the Union government has approved the payment of a PLB of Rs 1,968.87 crore to 11,07,346 railway employees. The performance of the railways in the year 2022-2023 was very good. The railways loaded a record cargo of 1,509 million tonnes and carried nearly 6.5 billion (650 crore) passengers," an official statement said.

It added that among the factors that contributed to the record performance are an improvement in the infrastructure due to the infusion of capital expenditure by the government in the railways, efficiency in operations and better technology.

The payment of the PLB will act as an incentive to motivate the railway employees for working towards further improvement in their performance, the statement said.

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