The Hindu Business Line : Rlys loadings in April up 4.46% at 60.68 mt

New Delhi May 31 The net tonne kilometre (NTKM) growth rate for Indian Railways — a measure of combined increase in goods loading and distance moved — has touched a low of 0.33 per cent for April 2007 compared to April 2006.

This has come about because of a combination of factors such as relatively lower growth rate (of 4.46 per cent) in loading of goods and almost four per cent reduction in average distance over which goods were moved during the period. NTKM is a key performance indicator for measuring the growth in Railways and is directly proportional to the earnings.

"Only loading numbers growth do not reflect the real picture. For example, if Railways moves very high load for less distance — then it would not earn as much as it would if it were to move relatively lower load for a longer distance," explained an official. Railways achieved 39,552 million NTKM in April 07 compared to 39,420 million NTKM in April'06.

On an annual basis, Railways has been witnessing over six per cent growth in NTKM since 2001-02.

LOADINGS

In April 07, while Railways loaded 60.68 million tonnes (mt) of goods (up 4.46 per cent compared to April 06), it recorded an average lead (average distance for which trains moved goods) of 652 kilometre (down by almost 3.98 per cent).

The growth rate is almost halved compared to the average annual loadings growth of 9.17 per cent witnessed in fiscal 2006-07. It was in 2001-02 that Railways had witnessed a four per cent growth in tonnage and since then, the numbers have been increasing.

For April, the dampeners were lower than expected loadings growth of cement (1.45 per cent), coal (5.59 per cent) and fertilisers (1.9 per cent). Additionally, foodgrain loadings also witnessed a 19.37 per cent reduction. Last year, Railways had moved larger foodgrains due to wheat import arrivals.

EARNINGS

However, earnings growth (at 8.78 per cent touching Rs 36,19.92 crore) during the month have been cushioned by a few factors that include several rounds of tariff increases that came about July onwards and increase in loading of those commodities for which Railways records higher earnings on a per NTKM basis.

For instance, there was a 43 per cent increase in loadings of `iron ore for exports' (3.62 mt). This helped push up earnings of Railways, as iron ore for exports is the second highest revenue earner on a per NTKM basis compared to other goods.

MAY PERFORMANCE

Railways expects to resume its growth momentum in two months — once these sectors are back on track. For the ten-day period of May 11-20, Railways has announced 11.16 per cent growth in total goods earnings touching Rs 1,200.67 crore. The loading data is released after the month end only.