 "Railways' freight earning grows by 13% to Rs 95,136 cr")
Indian Railways’ freight earnings grew 12.7 per cent to Rs 95,136 crore between April 2014 and February 2015, the first 11 months of the ongoing financial year.
It was Rs 84,379 crore in the corresponding period of 2013-14. The rise was helped largely by higher freight rates and increased volumes in coal and iron ore. The freight traffic was 966 million tonnes, as compared to 953 mt in the earlier period, a rise of 4.5 per cent.
Freight earnings were a little over 65 per cent of railways’ total earnings of Rs 1,44,167 crore in 2013-14 and 65 per cent of the current financial year’s estimated total earning of Rs 1,63,450 crore. The railways ministry had raised freight rates by 5.8 per cent in April 2013, 1.7 per cent in October 2013 and 6.5 per cent in June 2014.
Also, a congestion surcharge of 10 per cent is being levied on all goods traffic, including containers originating from ports, since November 2014. In addition, the ministry has announced an average three per cent rise in freight rates effective April 1 in the Rail Budget announced last month. It is budgeting for freight traffic to grow from 1,101 mt in 2014-15 to 1,186 mt in 2015-16. Of the additional 85 mt, almost half will come from coal, the largest component of railways’ commodity traffic basket.
The railways has revised its estimated freight earnings for 2014-15 to Rs 1,06,927 crore from the Rs 1,05,770 crore estimated when the budget was presented a year before. In 2015-16, freight earnings are budgeted to register a 13.5 per cent jump to Rs 1,21,423 crore.
It was Rs 84,379 crore in the corresponding period of 2013-14. The rise was helped largely by higher freight rates and increased volumes in coal and iron ore. The freight traffic was 966 million tonnes, as compared to 953 mt in the earlier period, a rise of 4.5 per cent.
Freight earnings were a little over 65 per cent of railways’ total earnings of Rs 1,44,167 crore in 2013-14 and 65 per cent of the current financial year’s estimated total earning of Rs 1,63,450 crore. The railways ministry had raised freight rates by 5.8 per cent in April 2013, 1.7 per cent in October 2013 and 6.5 per cent in June 2014.
Also, a congestion surcharge of 10 per cent is being levied on all goods traffic, including containers originating from ports, since November 2014. In addition, the ministry has announced an average three per cent rise in freight rates effective April 1 in the Rail Budget announced last month. It is budgeting for freight traffic to grow from 1,101 mt in 2014-15 to 1,186 mt in 2015-16. Of the additional 85 mt, almost half will come from coal, the largest component of railways’ commodity traffic basket.
The railways has revised its estimated freight earnings for 2014-15 to Rs 1,06,927 crore from the Rs 1,05,770 crore estimated when the budget was presented a year before. In 2015-16, freight earnings are budgeted to register a 13.5 per cent jump to Rs 1,21,423 crore.
The ministry on Tuesday said in the month of February 2015, railways generated Rs 9,127 crore as compared to Rs 7,878 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 15.85 per cent. Of this, Rs 4,348 crore came from transportation of 45 MT of coal, followed by Rs 795 crore from 8.8 MT of cement, Rs 573 crore from 8.7 MT of iron ore for exports and Rs 722 crore from 4.6 MT of food grains.