Indian Railways’ (IR) freight loading for October 2020 was up 15 per cent from the year ago period. IR loaded 108.16 million tonnes of freight for October 2020 (as against 93.75 million tonnes done in October 2019).
This included 46.97 million tonnes of coal, 14.68 million tonnes of iron ore, 5.03 million tonnes of food grains, 5.93 million tonnes of fertilizers and 6.62 million tonnes of cement (excluding clinker).
Earnings Increase
For the period in question IR’s freight earnings went up by Rs 868.90 crore or 9 per cent , from Rs 9536.22 crore in October 2019 to Rs 10405.12 crore in October 2020.11.2
Better freight performance is a result of several initiatives taken by IR such as concessions/ discounts for movement by IR, meetings with top leadership of iron & steel, cement, power, coal, automobiles and logistics service providers.
Business development units of zones and divisions are generating additional business besides near doubling of average speed of freight trains are major contributors to the rise.
Improvements in freight movements will be incorporated in the upcoming zero based time table.
