Railways Q1 freight earnings up 8.33% as economy gathers steam

The Railways carried 218.35 million tonnes of commodity freight during April-June period as compared to 213.24 mt carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 2.4%, data released on Friday showed.

The Railways generated revenue of Rs 14,915 crore from commodity freight traffic during April-June quarter as compared to Rs 13,769 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The higher increase in earnings than volume growth suggests that the per tonne realisation has increased, as the railways has been able to charge more.

Out of the total earnings of Rs 4,870 crore from freight traffic during June this year, Rs 1,926 crore came from transportation of 32.94 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs 708 crore from 9.45 million tonnes of iron ore for exports.

The Net Tonne Kilo Metres (NTKM) went up from 1,38,779 million during April-June 2009 to 1,45,342 million during April-June 2010, showing an increase of 4.73%. The earnings from the passenger movement grew by 6.69%.