Central Railway struggles with port woes as Western Railway thunders ahead in freight earnings
The Railways' plans to get its cash registers ringing by adding muscle to its freight-moving capacity is playing out in Mumbai in a way which clearly shows that the ports of Gujarat might have taken a march over the ones in Maharashtra. Numbers available with dna show that while the Central Railway is staring at stagnating numbers, due to the falling container traffic from JNPT and Mumbai Port Trust, the numbers at Western Railway, thanks to Gujarat's ports coasting along, is having a record-breaking time.
The coming year will be even more important for both railway zones. As dna had reported earlier, railway minister Suresh Prabhu has already given all the departments of the Railways a united challenge of increasing freight loading and earnings by 15 percent for the financial year starting April.
Why CR's freight business is so-so?
"The mainstay of the Railways, when it comes to freight loading, is the container traffic from ports (JNPT and Mumbai Port Trust). If that comes down, it means the freight scene is in a bad shape," said a senior CR official. The numbers bear him out. Against an average of 700 containers handled per day from JNPT in 2011-12, it came down to 667 containers per day in 2012-13, 567 containers in 2013-14 and 556 in the current financial year upto January. CR's overall container loading per day from all sources fell from 776 per day in 2011-12 to around 636 for the current financial year till January.
What has CR got to say?
Speaking to dna, Narendra Patil, chief public relations officer, CR said, "The container traffic from the two major ports has come down. The development of newer ports in neighbouring states like Gujarat has also taken away business from ports here. The choking of our lines due to suburban and long-distance trains has also affected freight operations."
Gujarat ports powering WR's dream run?
According to railway officials, there is a clear trend of traffic shifting from Mumbai-based ports to the newer ones in Gujarat. "These new ports have better rail connectivity, which is helping in quicker clearing of containers that come in. WR is getting full advantage of it," said a WR official. Its freight load has seen a robust increase. In 2011-12, WR loaded 70.65 million tonnes of freight. This went up to 71.97 million tonnes in 2012-13 and increased further to 72.21 million tonnes in 2014. The current financial year, up till January, has been a bumper one with loading standing at an all-time high of 73.24 million tonnes.
How fast is WR growing?
Sharat Chandrayan, CPRO, WR said, "In fact, by January, we had managed to overtake the numbers for 2013-14. WR is growing at 21 percent as far as tonnage (freight weight) is concerned and over 29 percent in terms of revenue. The good performance of container traffic (from ports in Gujarat), imported coal and fertilisers are to be credited for this performance."
What the future holds for state's ports?
According to CR officials, the dedicated freight corridor between JNPT and Dadri near Noida, the proposed new terminal at JNPT and the Rs 107-crore under-construction third good line between Mumbai Port Trust and Kurla to evacuate coal quickly will see CR's freight business get better than what it is currently. "But for the moment WR is sitting pretty because ports in Gujarat are attracting business because of the better facilities there as these are new ports," said a WR official.
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