Indian Railways has managed to exceed freight loading of financial year 2019-20 despite the disruption caused by COVID-19 in the initial months.
In the closing month of this fiscal year 2020-21, IR surpassed FY20’s loading, achieving 1,232.63 compared to last year’s 1,209.32, a growth of 1.93%. Freight has earned the organization Rs. 1,17,386.0 crores in FY 2020-21. This is 3% higher than the FY 2019-20’s earning of Rs. 1,13,897.20 crores.
Indian Railways has maintained the momentum of highest ever loading in consecutive 07 respective months from September 2020 to March 2021.
The month of March 2021 brought freight business worth 130.38 million tons, 27.33% higher than the (103.05 million tons in March 2020.
The basket of commodities for March 2021 consisted of 58.57 million tons of coal, 16.78 million tons of iron ore, 3.67 million tons of foodgrains, 2.57 million tons of fertilizers, 3.97 million tons of mineral oil and 9.56 million tons of cement (excluding clinker). Indian Railways earned Rs. 12,887.71 crores as haulage, 26.16% higher compared to Rs. 10,215.08 crores in March 2020.
The average speed for the freight trains in March 2021 was registered as 45.6 Km/hr, an 83% increase as compared to 24.93Km/hr in the same period. Improvements to freight movements will be institutionalized and incorporated in the upcoming zero-based time table.
An organization-wide effort to reach out to various sectors to attract business and a number of concessions and discounts have led to new types of goods being transported by rail over 2020-21.