Railways ministry’s ore carriage down 5.60%

The railways ministry’s iron ore carriage has reduced significantly in the April-May period this year, compared with the corresponding period last year.

Other commodities that have shown a shortfall include fertilisers, pig iron and finished steel.

The Railways, however, has logged a growth of 3.37% at 146.41 million tonnes in total freight carried during the period over last year.

The total iron ore carriage during April-May this year came down to 19.05 million tonnes from 20.18 million tonnes in the same period last year, registering a decline of 5.60%.

Iron ore carriage for steel plants has seen a decline of 4.12%, while freight of the commodity for other domestic uses registered a sharp decline of 11.67%.

Only iron ore meant for exports has registered a marginal growth of 0.93% at 5.41 million tonnes over the two months in last year.
Ministry officials allege that the decline is due to illegal mining in Orissa, owing to which, rakes remained stranded for a long time over the last few months.

The other commodities that have shown a significant decline include fertilisers, pig iron and finished steel.

The Railways could load 5.87 million tonnes of fertiliser during April-May this year compared with 6.06 million tones last year, registering a decline of 3.14%.  Pig iron and finished steel, too, have come down to 4.82 million tonnes from 4.96 million tonnes last year, down by 2.82%.

At this pace, the railway ministry is likely to fail in achieving the freight loading targets set by the Planning Commission. With the average freight carried in the first two months of the first quarter at 73.20 million tonnes, the Railways is likely to remain far below the 225 million tonnes target set for the first quarter by the Planning Commission.

The Railways, meanwhile, have generated Rs 10,044.54 crore
of revenue earnings from commodity-wise freight traffic during April-May 2010, as compared to Rs 9,216.12 crore during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 8.99%.
The Railways carried 146.41 million tonnes of commodity-wise freight traffic during April-May 2010 as compared with 141.63 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year.