Surpassed freight loading for FY21 as compared to FY20: Railway official

Despite Covid, on March 11, 2021, Indian Railways achieved cumulative freight loading of 1145.68 million tonnes, which is higher as compared to last year's total cumulative loading

The Indian Railways has reported an increase in its cumulative freight loading and has surpassed the levels achieved in the same period of last financial year. This is driven by an incremental loading of 70 million tonnes (mt), which has overcome the 50 mt deficit in coal loading.

According to cumulative freight loading data (till March 11, 2021) shared by the Rail Ministry, coal loading stood at 502.96 mt, down from 553.95 mt in same period of financial year 2019-2020. Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants (POL) also reported a dip from 42.88 mt till March 11 in FY20 to 40.37 mt till now in the current financial year.

There was an increase in loading of iron and steel, cement, food grain, fertiliser, container and other goods. Elaborating on the freight basket diversification, a rail ministry presentation said, “There has been an incremental loading of more than 15 mt in balance and other goods.”

The highest growth in non traditional commodities has been led by chemical salt (439 per cent), sand (274 per cent), cotton (266 per cent), onion (234 per cent) and automobiles (84 per cent).

The growth in salt freight can be driven by the reclassification of industrial salt under the tariff incentives offered by the Rail ministry. The increase in farm and agricultural produce can be attributed to the plying of specialised Kisan rails that were first introduced in July 2020. There is a 50 per cent freight subsidy for the transportation costs of fruits and vegetables on these rails.

Commenting on the growth in automobiles freight, Suneet Sharma, Chairman Railway Board told Business Standard: “A number of automobile makers were facing issues with inadequate road connectivity for their needs. We increased the number of NMG (New Modified Goods) rakes by around 70 during the Covid-19 period, and then made freight trains of 16 to 18 rakes. We then got in touch with automobile players and said that we can transport their vehicles over a longer distance in lesser time than road transport.”

“Earlier the freight speeds were lower, now the speeds have grown and we have added capacities by having more rakes. These NMG rakes were increased to 81 and another 50 rakes are slated to be added by June 2021. We expect to carry more automobiles in the next financial year,” he added.

“In spite of Covid-19 pandemic related challenges, on March 11, 2021, the Indian Railways achieved a cumulative freight loading of 1145.68 million tonnes (mt) which is higher as compared to last year’s total cumulative loading (1145.61 mt),” a Rail Ministry statement said.

“On a month to month basis as well, as on March 11, the loading for the month of March 2021 is 43.43 million tonnes, which is 10 per cent more than last year’s loading for the same period,” the statement added.

According to the presentation, there were tariff and non-tariff incentives that have driven this increase in loading. These include long lead discounts on coal, iron-ore, finished steel, limestone and clinker. There were also short lead discounts on all commodities except coal and iron ore.

The railways also offered a 5 per cent discount on loaded and 25 per cent discount on empty containers. In addition to these, there was a 40 per cent discount on fly ash in railway wagons. The withdrawal of busy season surcharge of 15 per cent is also said to have helped improve freight loading.

The average speed of Freight Trains in the month of March 2021 till 11th March was 45.49 kmph which is almost double compared to last year for the same period (23.29 kmph).