Railway freight earnings on higher trajectory

New Delhi, Mar 22: The Railways' freight earnings continued to zoom with the country's biggest public sector enterprise mopping up Rs. 32411.47 crore during the first eleven months of the current financial year, ended February this year, as compared to Rs 27723.79 crore during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 16.91 per cent.

During the peiod, the Railways carried 600.58 million tonnes of freight traffic as compared to 541.97 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 10.81 per cent.

The Net Tonne Kilo Metres (NTKM) went up from 371313 million during April-February 2004-05 to 397512 million during April-February 2005-06, an increase of 7.06 per cent.

The revenue earnings from freight traffic during February this year were Rs.3180.98 crore as compared to Rs.2660.31 crore during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 19.57 per cent.

The Railways carried 57.77 million tonnes (MTs) of freight traffic during February as compared to 50.21 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 15.06 per cent.

The NTKM went up from 34190 million during February 2005 to 38739 million during February this year, an increase of 13.31 per cent.

Of the total earnings during the month, Rs.1192.99 crore came from transportation of 25.05 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs.

244.51 crore from 2.71 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant (POL), Rs. 275.19 crore from 5.84 million tonnes of cement, Rs.

193.50 crore from 3.24 million tonnes of iron ore for exports and Rs. 312.82 crore from 3.75 million tonnes of foodgrains.

In addition, the Railways earned Rs. 136.24 crore from 2.60 million tonnes of fertilizers, Rs. 156.32 crore from 4.37 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants, Rs. 163.16 crore from 1.53 million tonnes of iron and steel for steel plants and Rs. 506.25 crore from 8.68 million tonnes of other goods.

UNI