Indian Railways logs higher freight loading in a first for FY21

In a signal of financial revival, the Indian Railways on Monday posted higher freight loading for the first time in this monetary 12 months.

The nationwide transporter dealt with 3.13 million tonnes (mt) freight on July 27, up 0.Three per cent in comparison with 3.12 mt on the identical day final monetary 12 months.

This rise comes after a quiet interval of greater than 5 months in the freight phase owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the opposite hand, for the present monetary 12 months, the freight site visitors dealt with between April 1 and July 27 stood at 322.69 mt, down 18 per cent, in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months.

“This is a sign of economic revival. We have taken so many steps during this crisis time to achieve this. This includes completion of 200 infrastructure works that were stuck during this time. In addition, the average speed of freight trains increased to an average of 45 kmph this month, compared to 23 kmph before the lockdown,” Railway Board Chairman V Ok Yadav advised the media on Tuesday.

He mentioned the Railways was concentrating on a minimum of 50 per cent higher loading, in comparison with final 12 months.

In 2019-20, Railways had reported a decline in freight site visitors for the first time in 18 years to 1,210.46 mt, down 1 per cent over 2018-19.

The common pace of freight trains on July 27 was 46.16 kmph, which was greater than double in opposition to final 12 months’s 22.52 kmph. Among the zones, West Central Railway noticed a mean pace of 54.23 kmph, Northeast Frontier Railway at 51 kmph, East Central Railway at 50.24 kmph, East Cost Railway at 41.78 kmph, South East Central Railway at 42.83 kmph, South Eastern Railway at 43.24 kmph, and Western Railway at 44.four kmph.

On July 27, the Railways loaded 1,039 rakes, together with 76 of foodgrains, 67 of fertiliser, 49 of metal, 113 of cement, 113 of iron ore and 363 of coal.

“These improvements in freight movements will be institutionalised and incorporated in the upcoming zero-based time table. These steps will lead to significantly higher freight traffic and earnings for Railways and cost-competitive logistics for the entire country,” he mentioned.

“To enhance freight site visitors, we had taken steps comparable to eradicating the busy season surcharge and persevering with with schemes like mini rakes and two-point rakes.

This helped us in recovering freight site visitors throughout the latter a part of the final monetary 12 months,” mentioned P S Mishra, member (site visitors), Railway Board.

Among commodities, foodgrain noticed a rise of 80 per cent, from April 1 to July 27 this 12 months to 20.81 mt, in comparison with 11.58 mt throughout the identical time final 12 months. However, the main breadwinner coal site visitors was seen 27 per cent for the interval underneath assessment at 144.75 mt.