Maligaon, Oct 06: Union Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal yesterday held a meeting with top leadership of Coal and Power Sector to ensure consolidation of coal business of Railways and suggest ways and means to further improve the joint operational productivity of Railways, Coal and power sector concerning Coal Freight.
It may be noted that Coal accounts for almost 50% of freight of Railways. Last year the total Coal loading was 587 Million Tonnes out of total freight of 1210 Million Tonnes.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that Railways was making relentless efforts in the field of boosting freight loading and there was no scope of any slippages on any front. The Minister called for coordinated operations among Railways, Coal and Power entities to ensure maximum mutual growth of all the three sectors namely Railways, Power and Coal.
It may be noted that in a remarkable turnaround, in September 2020, Indian Railways earned Rs. 9,896.86 crores from freight loading which is also Rs. 1,180.57 crores higher compare to last year’s earnings for the same period (Rs.8,716.29 crores). The increase in freight revenue is 13.54%.
There is a great a potential to further enhance loading of coal. An increase in coal loading will have a significant positive impact on railways freight revenues. Freight loading in September 2020 is 15.3 % more than last year for the same period.
Railways are now going all out to overtake last year figures on a cumulative basis as well in spite of COVID related challenges and long lock downs.
Slew of efforts like more than 25 policy initiatives formation of Business Development Units at zonal levels, running both specialised parcel & Kisan trains and better all round monitoring is ensuring the growth. Numbers of concessions / discounts are also being given in Indian Railways to make Railways Freight movement very attractive.
In NFR loading of POL products during the month of September increased by 21.1% in comparison to the corresponding month of last year. Similarly, food grains loading increased by 19% and container loading increased by 16.7% during last month compared to the same period last year.
