Bokaro: The Bokaro railway station, the highest revenue earning station of the South Eastern Railways (SER), recorded its highest ever freight load in December 2020 despite the Covid-19, signalling a turnaround in the fortunes of the industries in the steel town.
Accordingly, the railways has decided to increase the number of tracks and develop yards soon after, railway officials said on Saturday.
The rise in the number of freight trains has also increased the earnings of Bokaro railway station, which is known as one of the highest revenue-generating stations of the SER.
The station dispatched 180 freight trains to different parts of the country in December alone. Officials, who were upset with the downturn in business during the Covid-19 lockdown, rejoiced at the rising production and sales of Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) and Dalmia Cement.
Bokaro area railway manager Prabhat Prasad said, “In December, BSL has dispatched 134 railway racks including 112 steel coils to seaports and other parts of the India, which is the highest ever in any month.”
“This is the highest number of railways racks dispatched from Dalmia till yet. In December, Dalmia dispatched 1 lakh tonne cement through the railways. In ESL Steel Limited, outward freight was less around 8-9, but its inward freight was around 100 in December,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources said Bokaro station earned around Rs 74 crore in December alone from freight movement.
“The number of trains we sent off, loaded with steel products, pig iron, granulated slag, hard coke and cement in a month, is a record and was achieved for the first time in the history of Bokaro railway station,” Prasad said.
Prasad said they are installing four new tracks and developing facilities in the railway yards to decrease turnaround of railway wagons and ensure the improvement of availability of wagons. He informed that there are about 55 railway tracks in Bokaro, of which only three are used for passenger trains while the rest 52 are used by freight trains. The new tracks will be operational by March 31 this year.
The railways is also working to improve safety and is installing electronic interlocking in the empty wagons exchange yard.