HYDERABAD: The South Central Railway (SCR) has reached yet another milestone during the current financial year by recording Rs 10,000 crore revenue through freight operations in the zone in merely 9 months and 16 days, the fastest by the zone since its inception. Earlier, the freight revenue of Rs 10,000 crore was achieved in 343 days on March 9, 2019. The freight segment has been continuously performing well and a few days ago, the SCR had crossed the 100 million tonnes (MT) loading mark.
According to SCR officials, they are striving hard to reach the highest freight loading by the end of the financial year. The business development units formed by the zone comprising both operating and commercial officers and staff have been continuously working to attract new streams of traffic and also reviving the traffic that was diverted to other modes of transport.
They have been relentlessly working with freight customers and explaining the policy initiatives and incentives being offered. All these efforts have led to the upswing in the freight segment with all round growth.
The major commodity of freight loading is coal, contributing more than 50% of the total loading, while cement contributes 26%. Around 11% of the loading is put in by food grains and fertilisers together, while the rest is by the other goods. Singareni Collieries is the major freight customer for SCR, transporting coal mainly to thermal power plants and cement plants. The loading of food grains and fertilisers has also considerably increased since Covid lockdown and is helpful in balancing the food supply chain across the country.