Indian Railways carried 95 million tonnes goods in May

Despite adverse conditions, the Indian Railways carried 95 million tonnes goods in May this year, a record loading as compared to last few years for the corresponding period.

Facing a challenging situation due to sluggish growth in economy, the public transporter had carried 92 million tonnes (MT) of freight in May, 2016 and 91 MT in May, 2015.

The loadings in May this year are best ever for the month of May so far, said a senior railway ministry official involved with rail traffic.

There were disruptions in goods movement in Dhanbad division due to Maoist activities and the Railways was losing 50 rakes per day during that period.

Coal loading, the main staple for the Railways, was also affected in May due to various reasons.

Besides, there were traffic disruptions at several places due to the ongoing major works of strengthening the track which impacted train movement.

"However, despite all these factors we managed to achieve a record loadings in May," the official said.

In the passenger sector also there was a growth of 2.07 per cent during April to May 20 this year as compared to the same period last year.

The April-May period also witnessed reduced number of train accidents. There were 24 accidents during the same period last year as compared to 14 this year.