The Hindu Business Line : SC Railway registers 12 pc growth in freight loading

SOUTH Central Railway (SCR) has registered an originating freight loading of 45.64 million tonnes (MT) in the current year up to January, against 40.80 MT in the same period last year, showing a growth of 12 per cent.

Coal constituted a major chunk of the freight, followed by cement, foodgrains, petroleum products, and natural gas, a senior SCR official told Business Line.

On the performance of the zone in the first 10 months of the fiscal, he said that coal obviously took the pre-eminent position as SCR carried the commodity from the coal belts of Singareni Collieries and the Western Coal Fields to various power plants in the region.

Citing some "bold initiatives taken by the SCR", he attributed aggressive marketing strategy to reach out to customers as one of key components for the increased loading.

Leasing of commercial plots for customers near goods sheds and Railway stations to dump their material and load the same on rakes and other incentives helped the zone perform better.

Of the total freight loading of 45.64 MT, coal accounted for 18.54 MT, compared to 17.66 MT earlier.

Cement contributed 13.96 MT (12.37 MT). The cement plants served by the zone are located along the Vikarabad-Wadi-Guntakal-Renigunta, Kazipet-Ballarshah, and Bibinagar-Guntur sections.

The other important contributors were foodgrains (3.59 MT) and fertilisers (2.06 MT).

The zone also handled 2.35 MT of iron ore (1.86 MT), showing a growth of 26.4 per cent.

"This is a significant achievement keeping in mind the severing of many portions of iron ore producing areas from the zone."

Incidentally, January gave the zone the best ever freight loading figure for any month. Freight loading at 5.9 MT surpassed the previous best of 5.7 MT in March last.

The zone, considered to be the hub of freight movement for the Railways, covers the whole of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and minor stretches in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

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