Rlys may lose Rs 100 cr in Orissa freight jam

The Indian Railways is likely to lose revenues of Rs 100 crore from freight traffic operations in 2009-10 due to the fallout of the mining scam in Orissa where five rakes are lying unutilised for over a month now.

The loss would mean the Ministry of Railways not being able to meet the revised target of Rs 58,715 crore from goods earnings outlined in the Rail Budget presented in February 2010. The railways had raised the target by Rs 190 crore from the original estimate of Rs 58,525 crore.

Vivek Sahai, Railway Board member, said: “Our revised freight target of 890 million tonnes (MT) is likely to fall short by 1-1.5 MT as we are not being able to utilise the rakes lying idle in Orissa. We have 300 loaded wagons stationed at the depot there.”

A senior ministry official said: “Freight rates of iron ore are considerably higher than other commodities. The fall in tonnage would affect freight earnings quite significantly.”