Railways' freight target seems ambitious

Indian Railways will be required to transport an additional (incremental) traffic of more than 71 million tonnes (mt) in 2011-12 over 2010-11 to achieve its target.

The (originating) freight target for 2011-12 has been set at 993 mt. The throughput was 921.5 mt in 2010-11 and 890 mt in 2009-10. The target for 2010-11 was originally set at 944 mt, envisaging an incremental traffic of 54 mt. However, it was subsequently scaled down to 924 mt, which too was not achieved. The incremental traffic in 2010-11 thus was 31.5 mt.

Incremental Traffic

In such a situation, setting an incremental traffic target of more than 71 mt for the current fiscal may appear to many as rather ambitious. One, therefore, wonders if there will be a downward revision of target for the current fiscal also.

As expected, South East Central Railway (Bilaspur), the country's largest freight-loading zonal railway, has been given a freight traffic target of 152.5 mt for 2011-12 as against the throughput of 140.6 mt in 2010-11, or an incremental traffic of 11.9 mt, the highest among all zonal railways. East Coast Railway (Bhubaneswar) has a target of 120.5 mt (109 mt) or an incremental traffic of 11.5 mt.

East Central Railway (Hajipur near Patna) will be required to handle nine mt of incremental traffic at 97 mt (88 mt) and South Central Railway (Secunderabad) eight mt at 104 mt (96 mt) in 2011-12. During the period, Western Railway (Mumbai) has been given an originating freight traffic of 69 mt (63 mt) or an incremental traffic of six mt, Central Railway (Mumbai) 60 mt (55 mt) or an incremental traffic of five mt and South Eastern Railway (Kolkata) 127.5 mt (123.12 mr ) or an incremental traffic of 4.38 mt.

Eastern Railway (Kolkata) has been given a target of 58 mt (55 mt) or an incremental traffic or three mt and South Western Railway (Hubli) 37 mt (35.7 mt) or an incremental traffic of 1.3 mt for the current fiscal.

Commodity-wise, coal continues to be the largest item of traffic, accounting for more than 45 per cent of traffic. The coal traffic target for 2011-12 has been set at 468 mt, up from 420.21 mt handled in 2010-11. The target for 2010-11, however, was fixed at 425 mt.

Iron, cement

The iron ore traffic target for the period has been set at 115 mt as against 118,43 mt transported in 2010-11, The target for 2010-11 was set at 115.40 mt. The drop in exports of the mineral was more than compensated by larger domestic movement.

The cement traffic target for the current fiscal has been set at 106 mt, up from 99.03 mt in 2010-11. The target for 2010-11 was 99 mt. The target for fertiliser traffic for the current fiscal has been set at 50 mt, slightly higher than 48.17 mt handled in last fiscal. The target for 2010-11 was fixed at 48 mt, The foodgrain target for the current fiscal has been set at 45 mt as against the throughput of 42.03 mt in 2010-11 for which the target was 43 mt.

The target for pig iron and finished steel traffic for the current fiscal has been set at 34.5 mt (32.4 mt), raw materials (other than coal and iron ore) for steel plants at 13 mt (12.75 mt), petroleum products at 40.5 mt (39.9 mt), containerised traffic 46 mt (38.75 mt) and other cargoes 75 mt (69.8 mt).

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