Eastern Railway (ER) handled 57.747 million tonnes (mt) of revenue-earning freight traffic in 2011-12 as compared to 54.885 mt in 2010-11, thus posting 5.21 per cent growth, according to a release issued by ER.
Compared to the target of 57 mt set for the year (2011-12), the growth was 1.31 per cent, the release adds.
Till October, as the release points out, the loading was sluggish, only to pick up from November.
Between November and March (2011-12), the loading improved by 10.58 per cent over the same period of 2010-11.
Coal was the single largest item of traffic, the throughput being 38.25 mt as compared to the target of 36.65 mt and the last year's 35.54 mt.
The throughput of other goods posted marginal increase at 19.49 mt (19.35 mt).
ER sources would attribute it to “significant contributions by all the stakeholders namely Eastern Coalfields Ltd., Bengal EMTA, Punjab EMTA and Integrated Coal Mines Ltd”.
The earning from freight traffic during the period under review amounted Rs 3,752.9 crore (Rs 3,309.39 crore) thus registering a growth of 13.4 per cent, the release adds.