ECoR transports 45.80 million tonnes of freight in 12680 trains during lockdown

Bhubaneswar, July 4: East Coast Railway (ECoR) has carried 45.80 million tonnes of freight in 12680 trains during the lockdown between March 22 and June 30. ECoR has carried 27.06 million tonnes of coal in 7100 trains from its jurisdiction. Out of this, 16.14 million tonnes of indigenous coal from Talcher area in 4157 trains and 10.92 million tonnes of imported coal from different ports under ECoR jurisdiction were transported to various power houses and industries across the country. “Keeping in view the importance of food grains, ECoR has taken it as a challenge and ensured continuous supply towards different destinations. During this period, ECoR carried 0.95 million tonnes of food grains, especially rice to different states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand by utilising 333 number of trains,” said an official. Apart from this, 1.20 million tonnes of fertilizer to states like Uttar Pradesh., Bihar and West Bengal in 470 trains and 279 trains of petroleum products were transported from ECoR jurisdiction towards various places. 1268 trains of iron ore, 895 trains of iron & steel products, 41 trains of cement were also loaded for various destinations. In the first quarter of 2020-21, ECoR loaded about 42 million tonnes which is more than 82%, that of the last year in the same period. Amongst all the zones of Indian Railways, ECoR loaded the highest freight traffic during this period. This was achieved in spite of lockdown during this entire period.