ECoR shatters all records of Indian Railways in freight loading, loads 205MT in 2020-21

Bhubaneswar, April 1: The East Coast Railway (ECoR)  became the first zonal railway to cross the milestone of 200 million tonne of loading for the second consecutive year by loading 205 million tonne of freight in 2020-21 financial year i.e., from 1st April, 2020 to 31st March, 2021 and. It also broke the previous record of highest freight loading of 202.56 million tonne achieved by erstwhile undivided South Eastern Railway in 2002-03 fiscal. With an operating ratio of 47.71%, the zone easily becomes the most profitable zone of Indian Railways. Operating ratio is the term used to determine the profitability. For every rupee earned by the zone, it has to spend 0.47 paisa. In 2020-21 financial year, ECoR has carried 112.46MT of coal, 29.49MT of iron ore, 18.23MT of iron and steel, 7.62MT of raw materials for steel plants, 6.18 MT of fertilizer, 3.14MT of container, 2.76MT of food grains, 2.91MT of petroleum products and 22.09MT of other commodities. During the period, ECoR loaded 42.9 rakes per day from Talcher area, 21.1 rakes per day from Paradeep area, 14.1 rakes per day from Dhamra area, 11.7 rakes per day in KK Line, 16.5 rakes per day from steel plants, 7 rakes per day of aluminium. “Coal contributed to 55% and iron ore contributed to 14% of overall loading. Khurda Road and Waltair have obtained 4th and 6th position respectively among 64 zones of Indian Railways. The period also saw increase of average speed of freight trains by 117% as compared to corresponding period of last year,” said an official.