The Waltair Railway division of East Coast Railway registered a growth of 21.6 per cent in freight earnings during the first half of the current financial year as compared with the corresponding period last year.
Freight revenues increased by Rs322 crore during the April-September period mainly on the back of increased cargo movement and long distance-bound cargo, CS Jeengar, additional divisional railway manager, Waltair Railway Division, told Business Standard.
In the first half, the division transported 24.22 million tonne cargo and earned revenues of Rs1,806 crore as against 20.94 million tonne with Rs1,484 crore last year.
“Last fiscal on an average we earned Rs 708 on each tonne of cargo transport, but this year it increased to Rs 745. We did not hike the freight charges rather this came on the back of a significant increase in long distance cargo,” he said. It was mostly imported fertilisers that moved from Vizag port to long distance areas in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
“Though we fell slightly short of our cargo transport target (25.14 million tonne), our freight earnings was more Rs 1,806 crore as against the targeted Rs1,711 crore,” he stated.
For the current fiscal, the division expects to transport 53.45 million tonne cargo and is targeting freight earnings of Rs 3,566 crore as against 45.19 million tonne with Rs3,219 crore during the last fiscal.
He said this year the East Coast Railway was aiming to generate Rs 6,640 crore freight revenues, of which the Waltair division would account for Rs 3,566 crore, over 53 per cent of the total East Coast’s earnings.