SCR shakes off market blues

 andhrapradesh | Written by : Suryaa Desk Updated: Sat, Apr 15, 2017, 09:01 AM

Freight traffic up; new customers tapped


The South Central Railway has loaded 9.44 million tonnes (MTs) of freight traffic in the month of March, around 8.36% more compared to the same month last year, according to a release here on Friday.


This improvement in performance has reversed the sluggish trend on account of fall in imports and market conditions. The loading also contributed to maximise SCR’s freight loading for the financial year 2016-17 which went up to 96.83 MTs.


The annual revenue of SCR, generated on freight traffic, was to the tune of ?7,934.7 crore for the year 2016-17. During this period, the loading of iron ore on SCR was to the extent of 0.63 MTs, raw material for steel plants was 3.18 MTs (+13.6% over last year), coal loading was to the extent of 52.65 MTs and loading of other goods was 4.88 MTs.


Get cracking: GM


The initiatives undertaken to boost freight traffic in the zone in 2016-17 include opening of six freight terminals. New customers were tapped for loading onions in Nanded division, timber waste from Jagityal, fertilizer from Kakinada, containers from Eluru and cement from Chittapur. The release said that various steps were undertaken to increase the average speed of goods trains by 20 % resulting in improved wagon turnaround. The release said that General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav has chalked out an elaborate plan and reviewed all the aspects pertaining to freight loading on a continuous basis. He impressed upon officials the need to optimise freight loading in the current fiscal year for meeting the needs of customers and reaching out to new avenues of freight business.