The Railways has seen 3.7 per cent higher freight loading in the first 27 days of June against last year on account of change in policies brought in. This is a change from the past two months when the Railways recorded a drop in freight loading and a corresponding drop in earnings.

“Till June 27, as many as 944 rakes were loaded on an average per day against 910 in June last year. Loading of indigenous coal, iron ore — both export and domestic — bagged cement, raw material to steel plants and indigenous fertiliser has increased substantially,” MY Jamshed, Member-Traffic, Railway Board, told BusinessLine .

However, imported coal and fertiliser loading remained less than last year due to lower imports, said Jamshed. Railways removed congestion charge at 10 per cent at all ports and also did away with the busy season surcharge of 15 per cent with effect from May 1, 2016 up to June 30, 2016. It also allowed loading of all covered wagons for two-point and multi-point destinations.

For the first two months of the current fiscal (April and May), freight earnings dropped 12 per cent, and freight loading dropped by over 2 per cent, against the same period last year.

\With freight accounting for two-third of railway revenue, the drop in earnings had raised concerns. Recently, the Railways had a meeting with various non-coal customers, seeking more cargo from them. These included Maruti, NALCO, Hindalco, Tata Steel, SAIL and Concor, which sought further policy relaxations, such as multi-point loading and offloading and speedier trains.

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