Railways' freight revenue up 16.17 per cent

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Propped by continued buoyancy in freight business, the Railways generated Rs 37,653.17 crore of revenue earnings from freight traffic during April 2006-February this year as compared to Rs 32,411.47 crore during the corresponding period a year earlier, registering an increase of 16.17 per cent.

Railways carried 655.35 million tonnes of freight traffic during April'06- February'07 as compared to 600.58 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 9.12 per cent.

The Net Tonne Kilo Metres (NTKM) went up from 3,97,512 million during April'05- February'06 to 4,29,029 million during April'06- February'07, an increase of 7.93 per cent.

The earnings from freight traffic during February this year werev pegged at Rs 3,569.58 crore as compared to Rs 3,180.98 crore during the corresponding period last year, showing an increase of 12.22 per cent.

Railways carried 61.67 million tonnes (MTs) of freight traffic during the month as compared to 57.77 million tonnes of freight traffic during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 6.75 per cent.

The Net Tonne Kilo Metres (NTKM) went up from 38,739 million during February last year to 39,859 million during the same month this year, an increase of 2.89 per cent.

Of the total earnings during February this year, Rs 1,386.23 crore came from transportation of 27.47 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs 318.34 crore from 3.70 million tonnes of foodgrains, Rs 296.88 crore from 5.82 million tonnes of cement, Rs 236.24 crore from 2.85 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant (POL) and Rs 224.14 crore from 3.24 million tonnes iron ore for exports.

In addition, it earned Rs 159.15 crore from 2.70 million tonnes of fertilizers, Rs 179.94 crore from 1.61 million tonnes of iron and steel for steel plants, Rs 174.60 crore from 4.49 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants and Rs 594.06 crore from 9.79 million tonnes of other goods.

UNI