The South Central Railway (SCR) expects import of more coal at Krishnapatnam Port following the Supreme Court’s decision, cancelling coal blocks and restrictions on iron ore mining. Coal dominates the freight loadings of SCR at 54 per cent of all the loadings it handles.

SCR General Manager P K Srivastava said that the zone had taken up marketing initiatives to attract imported iron ore traffic in view of restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court on iron ore mining. For one, it carried 2.4 mt of imported iron ore from Krishnapatnam Port to Jindal Steel.

Coal contributed 35.2 million tonnes to the overall freight loadings of 65.4 mt in the April-October period in the financial year. This segment showed a growth of 10.6 per cent in the same period last year.

Addressing a select press conference here on Friday, he said increased traffic from Kakinada and Krishnapatnam Ports have propped up the freight movement and revenues earnings of the South Central Railway (SCR).

The freight loadings showed a growth rate of 9 per cent over 60.2 mt clocked in the same period last year. The Board set a target of 64 mt for the zone for the period. For the full year, the Board has set a target of 113 mt. “But we expect to close the year with 118-120 mt,” he said.

The zone contributed about 10 per cent of the overall freight loadings of 1,100 mt of the Indian Railways.

Krisnapatnam Port contributed 11.8 mt in (7.9 mt) in the same period last year, showing a growth of 49 per cent.

The zone has registered revenues (originating earnings) of Rs 6,915 crore in the first seven months of the financial year, showing a growth of 18.5 per cent over the same period last year and surpassing the Railway Board’s target of Rs 6,589 crore. For the financial year, the Board set a target of Rs 11,659 crore of revenues.

Customers’ meet

Srivastava, who took over the reins a year ago, said he held meetings with the top customers, including Chairman and Managing Director of Singareni Collieries and cement companies to discuss the strategies to.

He said the IT-driven Crew Management System helped the zone to efficiently turnaround the utility rate of the machines and the key staff.

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