Southern Railway has registered a substantial increase in freight loading during the month of April 2022.
The first month of the financial year 2022-23 saw a rise of 17% in originating freight loading for Southern Railway which was 3.232 Million Tonnes (MT), exceeding the Railway Board’s target by 0.462 Million Tonnes (MT). This best-ever monthly figure achieved by the Zone. in April 2022 is higher by 12% when compared to April 2021 also (2.888 MT). A 2% increase has been achieved compared to the previous month, i.e. March 2022 (3.157 MT).
The zone generated revenue of Rs.283.36 Crores during the month of April 2022, which is over 18% when compared to April 2021 which is the corresponding period of the last financial year.
Coal, which is being transported on priority, has witnessed a loading of 1.581 MT during April 2022 exceeding the Board’s target by 24% and over the loading of the previous month, i.e. March 2022 by 19%. Coal also contributed to revenue of Rs.134.15 Crores.
The loading of Foodgrains (0.233 MT) also contributed to the major chunk of freight volume recording 46% increase over Railway Board’s target. A phenomenal increase of 114% has been recorded in foodgrain loading in April 2022 compared to April 2021 (0.160 MT).
The loading of Cement (0.241 MT) registered a 27% increase in April 2022, followed by Petroleum products (0.376 MT) and Fertilizers (0.308 MT) witnessing a growth of 21% and 14% against Railway Board’s target.
The loading of 0.062 MT of Railway Materials for Steel Plants (RMSP) contributed to over ten-fold increase in revenue which stood at Rs.5.54 Crores.
The Business Development Units of the Zone garnered the traffic of Mutate of Potash (Fertilizer) during the month of April 2022. 1972 tonnes of the commodity were loaded in 31 BCN wagons and were dispatched from Tuticorin Port Trust (MVTS) to Kovvur in Vijayawada (ASLS) on 28th April 2022, generating revenue of Rs.35 lakhs
Highlights of freight Performance of Indian Railways during April 2022
Indian railways, which had registered the best ever performance in the year 2021-22 in freight loading has carried forward the momentum of the previous year in the month of April 2022. IR has registered a record 122.2 MT of originating freight loading with an incremental loading of 10.5 MT (9.5% growth ) over the previous best figures in April’21 i.e. 111.64 MT.
With this achievement, IR has registered the best ever monthly figures for 20 straight months and the trend that started in September 2020 has continued unbeaten with new records of monthly freight loading being set with each passing month. The NTKMs booked through Indian Railways in April’22 have also increased from 62.6 Billion in April’21 to 73.7 Billion i.e. an increase of 17.7 %.
This growth has been fuelled by incremental loading of 5.8 MT in Coal, followed by 3.3 MT in Foodgrains and 1.3 MT of Fertilizers. Except for Raw materials for Steel Plants (including Iron Ore) and Finished steel, all commodities have registered growth over the corresponding period of last year. In terms of wagons loaded per day also there has been a growth of 9.2 % and IR has loaded 66024 wagons per day as compared to 60434 wagons last year in the month of April.
With the revival of economic activity in the country and reduction in imported coal-based generation (due to high international prices of coal) the demand for domestic coal has seen a substantial growth which has been consistently met by railways. This is evident from the fact that between September 21 and March 22 Indian Railways has increased the loading of coal to powerhouses by 32%. This trend has continued in April as well and the overall coal loading has registered healthy growth during April ’22 with IR loading more Coal (both Domestic and Imported) over longer leads thus generating higher NTKMs. There has been 11% growth in the loading of coal in April ’22 vis a vis April’21, with 9% growth in lead and NTKMs increasing by more than 20%. Loading of domestic Coal for Power Houses in April’22 has also increased substantially with a growth of 18.8 %.
Backed by the healthy procurement by FCI and bullish demand for export of Wheat , there has been a growth of 95% in loading of Foodgrains in April. Further, there has been a 53% increase in the loading of Fertilizers. The growth container segment has been more than 10% with the Domestic container segment clocking a growth of more than 25%.
