Hyderabad / New Delhi, Dec 27 (Agency) South Central Railway (SCR) has achieved a remarkable feat by surpassing the significant milestone of loading over 100 million tonnes of freight in the current financial year on December 26. Notably, this achievement sets a new record as the Zone accomplished this feat in just 270 days, surpassing the previous best of 284 days in the last financial year (2022-23) and 317 days in 2021-22, a SCR statement said on Wednesday. The Zone has implemented various proactive measures to attract new commodities to rail transportation, concurrently fortifying the existing freight portfolio. Ongoing enhancements to freight terminals and vigilant monitoring of freight train movements ensure the timely and efficient delivery of goods. The growth in freight loading extends across all commodity segments, with higher loading levels observed in comparison to the same period in the previous financial year.
The Zone continuously monitors demand from freight customers to ensure the timely supply of wagons. Commodity-wise loading breakdown includes 50.635 million tonnes of coal, 25.226 million tonnes of cement, 5.961 million tonnes of fertilizers, 5.161 million tonnes of food grains, 3.396 million tonnes of raw materials for steel plants, 2.722 million tonnes of iron ore, and 7.752 million tonnes of other commodities, totalling 100.853 million tonnes. Special emphasis on coal transportation from coal belts and the commissioning of the new rail line between Bhadrachalam – Sattupalli in 2023 contributed to the surge in coal loading. Additionally, increased loading levels were observed in cement, iron ore, food grains, and fertilizers during the current financial year, contributing to the Zone’s exceptional performance.
Arun Kumar Jain, General Manager, SCR, commended the Operations and Commercial Team for the outstanding performance in crossing the 100 million tonnes mark in freight loading. He emphasized the constant monitoring of freight loading and attributed the exceptional results to policy reforms and new initiatives by the Railway Ministry. Jain advised Team SCR to maintain the momentum for the remainder of the financial year to achieve new heights in freight traffic.