Railway freight revenue rises 11.62 per cent during April-December 2007-08

Indian Railways (IR) earned Rs33,757.87 crore revenue from freight operations during the first nine months of the financial year (April-December 2007) up from Rs30,242.78 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year, an increase of 11.62 per cent.

IR carried 571.35 million tonnes of freight traffic during April-December 2007 as compared to 527.95 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year, reflecting an increase of 8.22 per cent. The net tonne kilo metres (NTKM) went up from 346,259 million in April-December 2006 to 367,601 million during April-December 2007, with an increase of 6.16 per cent.

The earnings from freight traffic in December 2007 alone rose to Rs4,341.47 crore up from Rs3,739.92 crore in December 2006, an increase of 16.08 per cent. The freight tonnage carried by IR also improved by 10.08 per cent in December 2007 to 63.56 million tonnes. The net tonne kilo metres (NTKM) went up from 41,384 million in December 2006 to 46,140 million in December 2007, showing an increase of 11.49 per cent.

Of the total earnings during the month of December 2007:

• Rs1,660.43 crore came from transportation of 30.24 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs674.68 crore from 11.92 million tonnes of iron ore 
  
• Rs329.73 crore from 3.40 million tonnes of foodgrains
  
• Rs328.42 crore from 6.63 million tonnes of cement
  
• Rs255.89 crore from 2.26 million tonnes of iron and finished steel 
  
• Rs245.21 crore from 2.99 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant (POL)
  
• Rs230.78 crore from 3.44 million tonnes of fertilizers
  
• Rs183.52 crore from 2.39 million tones of container service

Rs  74.06 crore from 1.05 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants except iron ore Rs358.75 crore from 5.65 million tonnes of other goods