Secunderabad, Dec 2 The South Central Railway (SCR) zone has recorded the best freight loading performance so far in this financial year in November at 9.3 million tonnes (MT), even as freight loading performance surpassed for the third consecutive month, compared to the corresponding period of 2019.
"The zone has recorded freight loading of 9.3 MT in November 2020 compared to the loading of 8.9 MT recorded in November 2019," a railway zone official said on Wednesday.
According to the official, SCR continues to exhibit positive momentum in the freight department despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Incidentally, the railway zone continues to witness diversification of the freight basket, along with the growth of other commodities being loaded, making up for the marginal reduction in coal loading.
"The sustained focus on loading of agricultural commodities has led to the growth of food grains and fertiliser loading by 25 per cent (0.64 MT) and 44 per cent (0.62 MT), respectively, in November 2020 over last year," he said.
On continuous follow up and monitoring by the railway zone officials, cement and containers loading is also on the rise.
"Containers loading was registered to the tune of 0.15 MT in November 2020 which is 67 per cent higher when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, while cement loading was 2.84 MT which is 50 per cent more than the previous year (1.9 MT)," said the official.
Multiple freight concessions and policy initiatives introduced by the railways, both tariff and non-tarriff-based, gave a shot in the arm to freight loading.
Likewise, the establishment of business development units at zonal and divisional levels has also helped the SCR make inroads, including adding new destinations for the existing commodities.
"The movement of freight trains has also been given due importance. The average speed of freight trains in the month of November was around 50 kmph, which is an improvement of 85 per cent when compared to 27 kmph registered in the same month last year," the official said.
( With inputs from IANS )
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