Railways freight shows signs of revival, expects growth from second quarter

After a subdued freight loading during April-May due to the nationwide lockdown, Indian railways expect a year-on-year growth in movement of goods in the second quarter of the financial year, indicating a revival in economic activity.

New Delhi: After facing a dent in revenues due to the COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown, the freight services of Indian Railways have started showing a sign of revival and expecting a further year-on-year growth in the movement of goods from the second quarter of the financial year.

While addressing a press conference on Monday, Member Traffic of Railway Board, PS Mishra said , "In a sign that economic and construction activities are coming back on track, cement traffic handled by Railways saw an 18 percent increase in the month of June as compared to the same time of 2019. A similar rise was seen in fertilizer traffic too."

He further stated that April and May, saw a subdued freight loading of about 70 percent due to the nationwide lockdown. In June, it has recovered to over 90 percent.

The National Transporter has handled 64.55 million tonne of freight, from June 1 to June 21, which got down to 8 percent as compared to the last year.

While in April-May, freight loading saw a dip of 57.97 MT or 28 percent due to the national lockdown and the earnings from the movement of goods declined by Rs 13,436 crore or 38 percent from the previous year.

"Other sectors that are also showing signs of improvement including food grains by 84% in 2020, except for iron-ore. While coal is expected to pickup after the monsoon," said the railway official.

During the lockdown period, Railways focused on the movement of essential items including food grains, coal to power sector, petroleum and time-tabled parcel services.

"We are in continuous dialogue with key industries like coal, fertilizer, steel, cement, containers and other goods to improve services and have better transit time," Mishra added.