Improvement in loading of iron ore in June and July helped the South Eastern Railway surpass the Railway Board’s freight loading target for April-July.
The South Eastern Railway loaded 41.16 million tonnes of freight during the period against a target of 37.92 mt.
According to an SER release, it loaded 22.77 mt of iron ore during the period compared with 22.26 mt in the same period last year. It also witnessed an increase in loading of pig iron and finished steel, cement, foodgrains and petroleum oil & lubricants.
The South Eastern Railway posted nearly 12 per cent rise in earnings from passenger traffic to Rs 415 crore during these four months against Rs 371 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Earnings from passenger traffic witnessed an upward trend both in suburban and non-suburban segments, the release said.
SER reported gross earnings of about Rs 3,607 crore during the period (including freight, passenger, other coaching and sundries).
Keywords: Freight loading target, South Eastern Railway, loading of iron ore, pig iron, finished steel, cement, foodgrains, petroleum oil & lubricants, passenger traffic,
Comments:
Loading freight into wagons is slow and it holds up rolling stock at loading stations. Indian Railways should move to containers in a big way. Furthermore, IR should develop half and quarter sized containers. Such containers should be loaded ahead of the arrival of the rolling stock. Once the freight train arrives at a loading platform, these containers should be pushed on to the train (or off the train). Such a method will load (or unload) a whole train in minutes rather than days. With such an arrangement, some freight trains can stop at rural stations and road intersections to pick up loaded containers with rural produce in under 30 seconds. It will be a great boost to the shipment of rural produce.
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