In a bid to give a thrust to freight traffic and enable ease of doing business, the Mysuru Division of South Western Railway has established a Business Development Unit (BDU).
It came into being earlier this month at the behest of the Ministry of Railways and its focus is to double the freight carried by the railways.
A committee comprising senior officials from commercial, mechanical and accounts departments will act as a nodal point for interacting with the existing customers and will reach out to new customers to achieve the objectives.
It was in this backdrop that a virtual meeting with freight customers of the Mysuru division was held on Wednesday and a release said major freight customers include players from the iron and steel, iron ore, cement and agri sector.
The release said movement of items from the core sector - coal, cement, fertilizers - as well as foodgrains has been the key driver for the growth witnessed in June and expressed confidence that stage is getting set for normal loading pattern.
Last year Mysuru division had surpassed the target and achieved all-time high loading and it was now doubling its efforts to compensate the decline during the first quarter due to the COVID-19 situation and the lockdown.
“The division is making all efforts to make good the decline in the first quarter by fast-tracking indents and expediting placement of rake for loading,” according to the release.
In view of the suspension of regular passenger services, the average speed of the freight trains has reached 45 kmph against the 25 kmph that was the norm earlier. The target is to run all goods trains at an average speed of greater than 50 kmph. With a safety first approach, the railways was creating an enabling environment to make a shift of freight traffic from road sector to rail sector, the release added.
