Date:25/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/04/25/stories/2005042500140600.htm

Back Steel is Railways' top freight earner

Mamuni Das

IN 2004-05, the Indian Railways, on average, earned 74.98 paise for moving a tonne of commodity over one kilometre, which is 4.32 per cent higher than the 71.88 paise it got during 2003-04. It earned Rs 51.25 crore for moving one million tonnes of commodity, compared to Rs 49.16 crore in 2003-04, according to the provisional statistics released by the Railways for the year.

The Railways earned Rs 1.31for moving one tonne of POL over one kilometre, slightly lower thanRs 1.35 in 2003-04. Transporting foodgrains fetched the Railways 47.76 paise — the least per tonne per kilometre charge. Last year, however, moving foodgrains was 7.34 per cent costlier, as the Railways charged 51.54 paise for moving a tonne of foodgrains over a kilometre.

After POL, commodities that were costliest to move by rail were coal for washeries at Rs 1.01 and iron and steel to steel plants at Re 1. The previous fiscal, these attracted charges of 94.13 paise and 97.82 paise respectively.

Each tonne of coal headed for steel plants was charged 90.43 paise, whereas that moved to power houses cost 82.62 paise for every km. While earnings from coal transportation to steel plants rose 5.3 per cent in the year ended March 2005 over the previous fiscal, that from coal transportation to power houses fell 12.51 per cent.

From the users perspective, moving each tonne of cement turned cheaper by 2.13 per cent in 2004-05 and earned the Railways 81.17 paise. Similarly, transporting each tonne of raw material to steel plants turned marginally cheaper in 2004-05 as the Railways charged 79.80 paise on a per km basis, which was 0.59 per cent lower than that in 2003-04.

These commodities were followed by coal transportation for other users (78.99 paise) and iron ore for exports (77.94 paise) on a per tonne per km basis, both of which were relatively cheaper to transport in 2003-04. Moving each tonne of fertiliser over one kilometre earned the Railways 54.08 paise.

In 2004-05, the Railways chart of top freight earners was led by iron and steel, fetching Rs 102.32 crore per million tonne moved to steel plants, and at the bottom was transporting coal to washeries at Rs 8.25 crore.