The Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (E. Co. R) has become one of the few Divisions on Indian Railways, which has an originating loading in excess of 50 MT. The freight revenue earnings of the Waltair Division has also crossed the Rs.5,000-mark and touched Rs.5,275.83 crore, according to Divisional Railway Manager Anil Kumar.
Addressing the gathering at the 58 Railway Week celebrations here on Friday, the DRM attributed the increase in loading during 2012-13 to the increase in the loading of iron ore, gypsum, alumina and steel. He felt that the performance could have been better had the Division not suffered heavy losses in the Kothavalsa – Kirandul (K-K line) in December last year due to the cyclone.
On the passenger front, the originating passenger traffic in 2012-13 has been 32.94 millions, which was 4 per cent higher than the previous year’s originating passenger traffic of 31.62 millions. The originating passenger earnings in 2012-13 at Rs.312.96 crore was 11 per cent higher than the earnings of Rs.280.89 crore achieved in 2011-12. Mr. Anil Kumar said that a total of 222 special trains were run and a total of 2,378 extra coaches were attached to various express trains running over the Division to clear the extra rush.