The South Central Railway has recorded an impressive performance in traffic volume and earnings in both the passenger and freight segments during the first three quarters (April to December 2012) of the current financial year (2012-13).
The gross originating earnings have increased by 23.3 percent and the zone has earned an incremental revenue of `1,365 crore with the gross originating earnings of `7,216 crore in this period as compared to Rs 5,851 crore last year.
In the freight segment, it achieved a good progress. As against the proportionate target of 81.4 million tonnes set by the Railway Board, SCR loaded 80.6 million tonnes of goods, almost reaching the target. SCR has done an incremental freight loading of 6.2 million tonnes, with a growth rate of 8.3 percent compared to the loading of 74.4 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year.
There was, however, a drop in the loading of foodgrains and fertilizers due to lack of demand and restrictions on loading for southern parts.
Yet, the major commodities moved by SCR maintained their upward surge.
There was a quantum jump in the originating coal loading from Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, Western Coalfields Limited and imported coal from the Krishnapatnam and Kakinada ports.
The loading was 45.4 million tonnes as compared to 37.7 million tonnes loaded during the same period of last year, an incremental improvement of 7.7 million tonnes.
Cement loading was 19.83 million tonnes as compared to 17.86 million tonnes during the same period last year, an incremental improvement of 2 mt, a growth of 11 percent. Coal and fertilisers constitute the major chunk of rail-based freight loading at ports on the east coast in the jurisdiction of SCR.
There was a significant increase of over 31 percent in originating freight earnings which were Rs 5,277 crore as against Rs 4,032 crore in the same period last year.
The Zone carried 294 million originating passengers as against 286 million last year, a growth of 2.8 percent. At present, SCR carries, on an average, around 10.7 lakh originating passengers a day. The passenger earnings registered a growth of 6.5 percent and stood at Rs 1,587 crore in the first three quarters of the current year compared to Rs 1,490 crore in the same period last year.