Freight movement by the Indian Railways registered a 0.76 per cent growth in loadings in November, indicating a slowdown in industrial activity.
Such slowdown in freight volumes is likely to increase idle capacity in the railway system.
Key commodities moved by the Railways are coal, steel and iron ore, cement, fertiliser and petroleum products. For the April-November period, Railways carried 647.11 million tonnes (mt) of freight, showing an increase 4.7 per cent on an annual basis.
Recently, the Minister of State, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, had stated in Parliament that the Railways lost loading capacity of 7.8 mt cargo during July-September due to the slowdown in industrial production.
On an average, every day in September, 208 rakes were idle, causing the Railways a loss of four mt of freight loading.
During August, 144 rakes were idle on an average every day, and while in July, 44 rakes were idle. In November, the revenue earning freight traffic was 81.75 mt, which is an increase of 0.62 mt over the actual freight traffic during the same period last year, showing an increase of 0.76 per cent.