GUWAHATI, Oct 26 - A big jump in earnings from passenger traffic has helped the finances of Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), with the zone registering an increase in its overall revenues on an annual basis during the first half of the current fiscal.
This comes even though earnings from the goods segment went down during the period under review.
Latest data shows that the total approximate gross earnings on originating basis of NFR during the April-September period of 2018-19 stood at Rs 1,630.49 crore as compared to Rs 1,532.33 crore during the corresponding period of the last financial year. This amounted to an increase of 6.41 per cent in total earnings for the railway zone year-on-year.
The passenger revenue of NFR during the first six months of the current fiscal jumped by 17.83 per cent to touch Rs 851.35 crore as against Rs 722.54 crore in the April-September period of 2017-18.
Revenue from other coaching also went up by 15.43 per cent annually during the April-September period this year to Rs 125.52 crore. The earning from other coaching was Rs 108.74 crore in the first half of the last fiscal.
However, earnings from goods on originating basis fell by 5.97 per cent to Rs 597.59 crore in the period under review. NFR�s goods revenue had stood at Rs 635.52 crore in the same period of the last financial year.
Similarly, sundry earnings of NFR in the first six months of 2018-19 also went down by 14.50 per cent to a mere Rs 56.03 crore as against Rs 65.53 crore in the year-ago period.
It is interesting to note that all the 17 zones of the Indian Railways have registered a year-on-year increase in their gross earnings during the first half of the current fiscal. The total gross earnings on originating basis of the Indian Railways as a whole increased by over 8.7 per cent on an annual basis to Rs 88,110 crore in the first half of this fiscal.
Meanwhile, the approximate number of passengers booked in the NFR zone touched 55.64 million during the period from April 1 to September 30 this year. This is an increase of 9.01 per cent over the figure of 51.04 million recorded during the corresponding period of last year.
Commenting on the latest numbers, experts said that introduction of new passenger trains, both local and long-distance ones, as well as expansion of railway connectivity in this part of the country has resulted in growth of passenger traffic which, in turn, has helped to boost the earnings of the zone They added that there also exists more potential to increase earnings from the goods segment.
Officials said that further expansion of railway services to remote parts of the North East as well as progress in double-tracking will boost both passenger and goods traffic in the region, thus helping NFR further augment its earnings.
