The South Central Railway (SCR) achieved its best-ever annual freight loading performance in 2018-19.
The zone reached the mark of 122.51 million tonnes freight loading last year.
The previous best was 116.80 million tonnes registered in 2014-15.
The target set for SCR by the Railway Board was 111 million tonnes for 2018-19.
The feat, according to N Madhusudana Rao, Principal Chief Operations Manager, is the result of a right mix of operational, technical and business strategies.
This was also aided by macro-economic factors such as increase in coal imports.
In incremental terms, the load went up by 19.47 million tonnes, the highest in the country. The East Coast Zone and East Central Zone came second and third, with incremental increase of nine million tonnes and 8.8 million tonnes, respectively.
When asked how this was achieved, Rao said: “Operationally, we started making good use of alternative routes, such as Balarsha-Vijayawada, Peddapalli-Nizamabad and Guntur-Guntakal, which are rather unutilised.’’
In addition, rationalisation of engineering allowance (time given for maintenance works and its incorporation in train travel time) and the right power use for gradient sections on the track — preventing slow movement — also helped push up freight load.
Contracts signed
“To augment coal freight, the SCR signed two ‘Merry Go Round’ pacts with Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) at a discounted rate,’’ Rao said. Coal contributed 67.6 million tonnes to the total freight.
Imported coal from the Kakinada and Krishnapatnam ports also helped.
SCCL is major transporter of coal to various destinations.
Cement contributed the second highest share in total freight at 28 million tonnes. This was a result of the long- term tariff contracts signed with eight cement manufacturers.
“These contracts assure steady business and freight tariff,” Rao said.
Robust performance in freight loading helped the SCR cross the ₹10,000-crore mark in freight loading for the first time since inception.
In total, it earned ₹10,584.94 crore through freight loading.