The Hindu Business Line : Eastern Rly posts 9.8% drop in freight traffic

Between April and January (2007-08), Eastern Railway (ER) posted 9.8 per cent drop in the throughput of the originating freight traffic at 35.18 million tonnes (mt) compared with 39 mt in the corresponding period of 2006-07.

The extent of drop in the throughput of coal, the single largest item of the freight traffic, however, was more. During the period under review, ER handled 23.14 mt of coal (28.09 mt), or a drop of about 17 per cent.

ER sources would attribute this to the shortfall in loading in its major freight-loading division, Asansol Division. During the period, the Asansol Division loaded 22.95 mt (29.53 mt), or a drop of more than 16 per cent.

Coal rebooking

The loading at the mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Central Coalfields Ltd and Bengal Emta was lower than that in the previous year.

Also, ER stopped rebooking of coal originating in some other zonal railways, but delivered to consumers located within the jurisdiction of ER. Earlier, such rebooking used to take place mostly at Andal Jn. under ER.

Howrah division loading

Interestingly, the coal loading at ER’s Howrah division recorded a significant jump. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal, Howrah division loaded 8.51 mt (5.77 mt), registering a growth of more than 47 per cent.

The loading of non-coal items, however, increased to 12.04 mt from around 11 mt in the corresponding period of last year.

Despite the drop in the throughput of total freight traffic, ER’s earnings from freight traffic increased to Rs 1719.39 crore (Rs 1404.44 crore), or a growth of 22.43 per cent.

This was mainly because the coal loaded by the Howrah division was dispatched to Punjab, thus, having a long lead.

More Stories on : Railways

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page