SCR crosses a milestone: 100 million ton loading

HYDERABAD: The South Central Railway will cross the milestone of 100 million tonnes of originating freight loading on Friday and join the prestigious “100 Million Tonnes Plus Loading’ league which now has South East Central, East Coast and South Eastern Railways.During the current fiscal year 2011-12, SCR is set to achieve approximately 103 MT of originating freight loading compared to 96 MTs in the previous year, registering a growth rate of 6.8 percent despite several disturbances due to rail roko/strike affecting freight movement and coal loading from the Singareni Collieries.The freight traffic growth on SCR in the recent past has been phenomenal _ from 73.8 MT in 2008-09 to 103 MT in 2011-12.The zone, by loading more than 28 MT in just three years, posted one of the highest growth rates in freight loading on the Indian railways.Coal constitutes around 52 percent of the total loading in the zone.Cement, fertiliser and food grains are the other major goods the railway carries.In terms of the number of rakes, SCR has loaded this year an average of 85 rakes per day _ coal (37), cement (22), food grains (7) and fertiliser (7).The zone received impetus to freight loading from the two seaports on the east coast _ Krishnapatnam and Kakinada.Imported coal and fertiliser, and granite are the major constituents of the railway goods traffic from these ports.Keeping in view the future traffic potential, the SCR is expanding the capacity of the goods sheds and upgrading the facilities for loading and unloading activities.