SCR freight earnings up 35% in January

The zone registered a 7.40% jump in total freight carried to 10.59 million tonne (mt) during the period, when compared with 9.86 mt in the last year period

Secunderabad-headquartered South Central Railway posted a 35.2 per cent growth in freight revenue at Rs 945.47 crore during January this year as against Rs 700 crore for the corresponding period last year.

The zone registered a 7.40 per cent jump in total freight carried to 10.59 million tonne (mt) during the period, when compared with 9.86 mt in the last year period. In the process, it has surpassed the Railway Board's target for goods earnings and loading for the period.

"Close monitoring of the running of freight traffic, appropriate interventions, rationalisation of operational practices, maximising rolling stock utilisation, coupled with a huge surge in the rail traffic handled at Krishnapatnam and Kakinada ports were instrumental in registering high growth during January, 2015," SCR said in a release today.

SCR for the period Apr 2014-Jan 2015, led by outperformance in freight loading, saw its cumulative originating revenue earnings shoot up 24.3 per cent to Rs 7,476.60 crore as against Rs 6,014.89 crore last year. It carried 90.35 mt freight during the aforesaid period, when compared with 87.8 mt during the corresponding period last year, a growth of 9.7 per cent.

Segment-wise, coal contributed 55 per cent to the total freight loading at 51.17 mt (46.71 mt last year) by the end of Jan, followed by cement at 23.63 mt. It loaded 5.05 mt of foodgrains and 4.21 mt of fertilisers.

Launches Concierge Services for advance booking of cabs, porters

A new service called Concierge Services has been introduced in SCR at Secunderabad and Tirupati railway stations enabling passengers to book cabs and porters before their train arrives at the station. These will also be provided shortly at Vijayawada and Guntur stations.

Under this, passengers having confirmed train reservation can book these cab/porter 36 hours in advance online at www.irctc.co.in and www.irctctourism.com. After booking of the services by the passengers, the details of cab services and contact numbers will be intimated to them before their train arrives at the station. The staff of Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will be available at the stations to ensure hassle-free services to the passengers on their arrival, SCR stated in a release.

At Secunderabad, cab services will be provided for Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and AP Express trains. At Tirupati, cab services will be provided for passenger arriving by trains coming from New Delhi, Secunderabad, Visakhapatnam and Mumbai. The porter charges will be applicable to two pieces of luggage weighing 40 kg and one trolley load.