)
Secunderabad-headquartered South Central Railway (SCR) showed a 16 per cent jump in freight earnings to Rs 3,966 crore for the April-September period of the current financial year. Earnings stood at Rs 3,430 crore during the same period last year.
The double-digit growth in earnings was on account of a seven per cent growth in freight loading at 55.7 million tonne (MT) during the period, as against a load of 52.1 MT last year. In doing so, it has surpassed the Railway Board’s target of 54.8 MT load for the period, for the rail division.
While coal and cement had been the major items under freight, contributing more than 80 per cent (or 44 MT), SCR in a statement on Wednesday said an intensive marketing had created a new opportunity, ie imported coal freight.
“During July-September 2014, 415 rakes have been employed for carrying 1.64 MT of imported coal from Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh to the facilities of Jindal Steel, generating an additional revenue of Rs 148 crore,” SCR said in the statement. Coal, imported iron ore and fertilisers are dealt through rail at this port.
SCR further stated that due to close monitoring of goods trains at various levels, it was possible to reduce the detention period of wagons and thereby increase the mobility and realisations.
Segment-wise, loading of coal saw an eight per cent jump in April-September at 29.9 MT, as against 27.7 MT for the same period last fiscal. Coal loading from Singareni Collieries in Telangana witnessed an 18 per cent growth at 16.2 MT during the April-September period, as against 13.7 MT last year.
Cement loading was up eight per cent at 14.8 MT, when compared with 13.7 MT for the corresponding period last year. Foodgrains’ contribution to the freight stood at 3 MT and fertilisers at 2.1 MTs during the six-month period.
