Madurai division of the Southern Railway has surpassed its originating freight earning target for the first quarter (April- June) of the 2022-23 fiscal by generating ₹78.54 crore. The division has generated freight revenue by transporting 7.16 lakh tonnes (LT) of commodities.
A statement said that the earning, which is 35.04% more than the corresponding quarter in the last fiscal overshot the target set by the railway board by 33.14%. The growth in freight loading has been fueled by incremental loading of fertilizer (3.26 LT), limestone (1.04 LT), tractors (0.70 LT), coal (0.55 LT) followed by charcoal & quartz (each 0.34 LT), gypsum (0.08 LT), soyabean (0.08 LT) and railway materials (0.76 LT).
The efforts of business development units have helped the division diversify into transport of newer commodities like quartz to construction industries, limestone & gypsum to cement industries, soyabeans to food processing industries, charcoal to North Eastern regions.
Transporting of tractors in NMG wagons to north-west regions (near Jaipur) alone fetched ₹25.63 crore . Revenue from fertilizer contributes ₹42.24 crore in the freight segment.
The loading in June has been 2.55 LT registering 36.78% growth over the corresponding period and 30.34% growth over the target set for the month. Overall, Southern Railway fetched ₹922 crore under freight segment during the first quarter of this fiscal registering a growth of 36%. It handled 3.114 million tonnes in the last June alone with a positive growth of 53%, the statement said.
