October proved to be a bad month for the Railways in freight loading. There was a drop of 1.67 million tonnes during the month.
This was because major freight loading zonal railways were hit by the inclement weather, particularly cyclone Phailin . In October, East Coast Railways (ECoR) loaded 10.44 mt compared with 11.78 mt in September and 11.2 mt in October last year.
From the pro-rata target fixed for October this year, the drop was as much as 1.5 mt. “We find it difficult to recover the loss and reach the revised target of 149 mt fixed for the whole year (2013-14),” according to a spokesman for ECoR. November does not present an encouraging picture either.
Coal loading, accounting for more than 60 per cent of ECoR’s total freight loading, has been far from satisfactory particularly at Talcher mines, where loading at two points have remained suspended for about a month due to strain industrial relations situation. Also, the change of contractor has thrown up myriad problems, it is learnt.
South East Central Railway (SECR) loaded 12.4 mt in October compared with 13 mt in October last year. Though the weather improved, coal loading, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of total freight loading, continues to be hit. Production at collieries served by SECR continues to be less than satisfactory, according to SECR sources.
South Eastern Railway, the major transporter of iron ore, handled 10.70 mt in October compared to 11 mt in September. However, cumulatively, till October (April to October), the throughput was 77.15 mt compared to 71.6 mt in the same period of the previous year. Also, this year, loading in October was up by 0.37 mt over 10.37 mt in October last year.
“We also suffered badly in October due to bad weather,” said a spokesman for East Central Railway, another major coal-loading zonal railway. He, however, declined to give figures.