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NFR registers 1.65 per cent growth in earnings

By Pranjal Bhuyan

GUWAHATI, Oct 30 - Notwithstanding a slide in goods earnings, the Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) registered a marginal increase in overall revenue on an annual basis during the first half of the current fiscal on the back of rise in income from passenger and other coaching segments.

The total approximate gross earnings on originating basis of NFR during the April-September period of 2016-17 stood at Rs 1,529.74 crore as compared to Rs 1,504.93 crore during the corresponding period of the last financial year. This amounted to a growth of 1.65 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 went up by 4.89 per cent to touch Rs 807.26 crore as against Rs 769.61 crore in the April-September period of 2015-16.

Revenue from other coaching jumped by almost 32 per cent annually during the April-September period this year to 119.73 crore. The earning from other coaching was Rs 90.78 crore in the first half of last fiscal.

However, earnings from goods on originating basis fell by 6.31 per cent to Rs 596.24 crore in the period under review. NFR�s goods revenue stood at Rs 636.42 crore during the same period of the last financial year.

Similarly, sundry earnings of NFR in the first six months of 2016-17 went down by 19.83 per cent to a mere Rs 6.51 crore as against Rs 8.12 crore in the year-ago period.

It is interesting to note that NFR was among the only six of the total 17 zones of Indian Railways to have registered a year-on-year growth in its gross earnings during the first half of the current fiscal. The other five zones which have performed well are the Eastern Railway (Kolkata), Northern Railway (Delhi), North Central Railway (Allahabad), North Eastern Railway (Gorakhpur) and South Eastern Railway (Kolkata).

The total gross earnings on originating basis of the Indian Railways also went down by over 4.3 per cent on an annual basis to Rs 76,839 crore in the first half of this fiscal.

Meanwhile, the approximate number of passengers booked in the NFR zone touched 48.98 million during the period from April 1 to September 30 this year. This is an increase of 5.33 per cent over the figure of 46.50 million recorded during the corresponding period of last year.

Commenting on the latest numbers, experts said that frequent disruption of services due to landslides and other natural calamities at hilly sections as well as bandhs and disturbances in some others have hampered goods business in the region.

But they added that with the expansion of railway services to remote parts of the North East, besides progress in double-tracking, will boost both passenger and goods traffic in the region, thus helping NFR further augment its earnings.

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