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| Railways' freight loading misses target |
| Sharmistha Mukherjee / New Delhi Jul 28, 2010, 01:55 IST |
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The railways’ freight loading target for the first quarter of 2010-11 has fallen short by eight million tonnes (mt), as repeated disruptions in Naxal-infested areas have affected the transportation of major commodities such as coal and iron ore.
The two commodities comprise 60 per cent of the targeted freight. Indian Railways carried 218 mt freight in the April-June period as against the target of 226 mt.
“Coal and iron ore are the two key bulk commodities transported via railways. Repeated disruptions in the Naxal-hit areas have affected the traffic of these commodities considerably. Our tonnage target could not be met in the first quarter,” a senior official at the ministry said.
The railways moved around 100 mt coal during the first quarter, against the targeted 104 mt, though it was higher than 96.73 mt during the same period last year.
The iron ore movement was 28.49 mt, recording a shortfall of 4.6 mt. During the corresponding period last year, the figure was 30.44 mt.
Carriage of coal is projected to contribute over 45 per cent towards the total freight tonnage target of 944 mt this financial year, while movement of iron ore would account for another 15 per cent.
However, there was some positives on revenue earnings from goods traffic during the first quarter. The railways have earned Rs 14,915 crore from freight traffic in the first quarter, an increase of around eight per cent over the Rs 13,768.56 crore registered during the corresponding period in 2009-10.
Industry sources attribute this to the phased increase in freight rates for iron ore for exports — first, by Rs 100 per tonne and again by Rs 300 per tonne over the last few months.
Ministry officials said the railways would follow a dynamic pricing policy for determining freight rates this financial year. Further efforts would be made on increasing long ‘lead’ traffic to boost earnings from freight. Lead refers to the average haul per tonne of freight. The more the distance an amount of freight is carried over, the greater is the average earning from the traffic.
The initiatives undertaken by ministry to boost freight traffic are significant as the railways earn 66 per cent of their revenues from earnings in freight. The goods earnings for 2010-11 has been projected at Rs 62,489 crore in the Railway Budget this year.
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