Freight earnings of Railways up by about 9% in H1

Freight traffic in six months of current financial year up 6.6% by volume

Railways have earned Rs 43,457.78 crore from freight traffic during the first six months of the current fiscal, compared to Rs 39,882.99 crore during the same period last year, marking an increase of 8.96 per cent.

Railways carried 511 million tonnes (MT) of freight traffic during the six-month period in the current fiscal as compared to 481.35 MT carried during the same period last year, registering an increase of 6.61 per cent in volume.

The national transporter earned Rs 6,992.18 crore from freight traffic in September this year, out of which the maximum earning of Rs 2,868.06 crore came from transportation of 39.75 MT of coal, followed by Rs 736.80 crore from 9.97 MT iron ore for exports, steel plants and other domestic users.

According to Railway Ministry data, it earned Rs 654.89 crore from 9.14 MT cement, Rs 574.44 crore from 4.38 MT foodgrains, Rs 382.33 crore from 3.19 MT petroleum oil and lubricants, Rs 435.90 crore from 3.17 MT pig iron and finished steel from steel plants, Rs 418.40 crore from 4.47 MT fertilisers, Rs 124.21 crore from 1.41 MT of raw material for steel plants except iron ore, Rs 345.24 crore from 3.41 MT by container service and Rs. 451.91 crore from 5.97 MT of other goods.