Vijayawada Division of South Central Railway (SCR), the second largest in Indian Railways, is earning good revenue on freight loading from Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL).
The Railway officials are confident of crossing the target much ahead of the fiscal ending 2012-13.
The Railways earned Rs.2,066 crore (up to February-end) on freight loading as against the target of Rs.2,102 crore for the year 2012-13. This was Rs.535.10 crore (34.9 per cent) higher compared to last year during the same period.
The revenue target (on goods) for the current financial year is Rs.2,313 crore.
Many companies are importing coal, wheat, boiled rice, fertilisers, cement and other commodities from Australia, China, Singapore and other countries through sea route via. Krishnapatnam Port, located in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district. Similarly, a few commodities are being exported to other countries from the port.
After unloading from the vessels, SCR will transport the goods in wagons to different destinations in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh States. The major commodity being transported is coal, followed by fertilisers, said the railway authorities.
Speaking to The Hindu , Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Pradeep Kumar said that the freight load target for the year 2012-13 is 28,300 Million Tonnes (MT) and the railways made 25,583 MT loading up to February end.
“The target during 2011-12 was 24,802 MT and we achieved it. We loaded about 15,000 MT of coal (which is 15.5 per cent of the total commodities transported) and 7,000 MT fertilisers were loaded. The ban on importing iron ore from the port has not affected much on railways and we achieved the targets in the last two years”. “Comparing to the figures of the last eight years, SCR had made tremendous growth in freight loading i.e. from 7.2 Million Tonnes to 28.3 MT. We are confident of reaching the target by March end”, said the DRM.
In February month, the railways transported 2,486 MT of goods as against the target of 2,329 MT, which is 0.157 MT (6.7 per cent) high than the corresponding month of last year, Mr. Pradeep Kumar said.
