For the 3rd Consecutive month, Freight Loading of South Central Railway has surpassed the freight loading of the corresponding month in the previous year, registering the highest loading for 2020-21 in November 2020.
- The Zone has recorded freight loading of 9.3 MTs during the month of November 2020 compared to the loading of 8.9 MT recorded during November 2019.
- Inspite of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Zone continues to show positive momentum in the freight loading due to the relentless efforts of Team SCR under the guidance and leadership of Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR.
- The diversification of the freight basket also continues with the growth in other commodities loading more than making up marginal reduction in Coal loading.
- The sustained focus on agricultural commodities loading has led to Foodgrains and Fertiliser loading growing by 25% (0.64 MT) and 44% (0.62 MT) respectively in November 2020 over last year.
- With continuous monitoring and follow up by the team SCR,Cement and Containers loading have also seen an upswing.
- Containers Loading registered to the tune of 0.152 Million Tonnes in November 2020 which is 67% higher when compared with corresponding period of the previous year, while Cement Loading registered 2.84 MTs which is 50 % more than the previous year loading in the same month (1.9 MTs).
- Several freight concessions and policy initiatives introduced by Railways especially in terms of both Tariff and Non-Tariff initiatives for commodities across the spectrum have positively contributed towards the improvement in growth of freight loading.
- Simultaneously, the setting-up of Business Development Units at Zonal and Divisional level has helped in making in-roads into stream of traffic as well as new destinations for the existing commodities.
- The movement of freight trains has also been given due importance and regularly monitored at all levels.
- The average speed of freight trains in the month of November was around 50 Kmph, which is an improvement of 85% when compared to 27 Kmph registered in the same month last year.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager of South Central Railway has taken special interest and monitored the zonal freight loading and conducted regular review meetings with all the departments to have well coordination to maintain the growth in the freight segment. He expressed his satisfaction on the best loading figures registered by the Zone during the month of November and advised railway officials and staff to maintain the same tempo for the rest of the financial year.
Recent Progress:
SCR has transported Automobile vehicles viz., Mini trucks & commercial vehicles through Railways for the first time to Jirania Railway station in Tripura state of North Eastern part of the country. It is the farthest distance being covered by Railways from SCR connecting South India with North Eastern States.
- As per the advice of the Rail Ministry, South Central Railway has accorded special focus on freight traffic.
- The Business Development Units (BDU) have been set-up at both Zonal and Divisional level not only to strengthen the existing traffic but also to attract new traffic towards Railways.
- Accordingly, the Secunderabad Divisional BDU team has been making special efforts to increase the freight basket of the division.
- The continuous efforts by the team have led Zahirabad as fast evolving and as a preferred station for loading automobiles over Secunderabad Division.
- Compared to the last financial year, wherein only 01 automobile rake was loaded during the entire financial year, this year already 10 rakes have been loaded from this station.
- To begin with, the automobile traffic used to go only to Changsari in Assam.
- However, the continuous efforts of Secunderabad division officials in coordinating and monitoring freight customers has led to the addition of one more new destination i.e., Jirania in Tripura, which is also the farthest point among the Zonal freight loading destinations.
- Accordingly, 15 NMG wagons consisting of 69 vehicles were transported to Jirania station of Tripura State which is around 3600 Kms from Zahirabad.
- Along with these, 10 NMG wagons consisting of 42 vehicles were loaded to Changsari station in Assam state.
Source: South Central Railway-Press Release
