Southern Railway (SR) attained originating freight traffic of 28 million tonne (MT) during April to December 2022, which is an increase of 27 per cent over the corresponding period of last year’s figure of 22 MT.
The performance also exceeds the Railway Board’s target of 26 MT by 6 per cent, said a press release from SR.
The growth in freight loading during the first nine months was fuelled by increased loading of coal (13 MT), food grains (2 MT), fertilisers (3 MT), and POL products (4 MT).
The freight earnings of ₹2,660 crore in April-December 2022, exceeded the revenue of ₹1,990 crore registered during the corresponding nine-month period of the previous year and thereby registered an increase of 34 per cent. The performance also exceeded the Board’s target of ₹2,311 crore for the period by 15 per cent.
Passenger traffic in April-December 2022 witnessed growth in all the segments — reserved, unreserved and suburban — compared to the corresponding period of the last financial year.
The overall originating passenger traffic handled during April to December 2022 by SR was 468 million passengers compared to 225 million passengers handled during the same period last year.
A revenue of ₹4,689 crore was registered during the period from originating passenger traffic surpassing the Board’s target by 12.4 per cent, the release said.