GUWAHATI, June 12 � Backed by rise in passenger earnings, the Maligaon-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has registered a marginal annual growth in its total earnings during 2014-15.
However, while passenger earnings have shown a growth year-on-year, earnings from goods and sundry services have been hit, mainly on account of the Mega Block in the Silchar-Lumding segment, thus putting a brake on the zone's overall annual revenue increase.
In the April 2014-March 2015 period, NFR�s total approximate gross earnings on originating basis stood at Rs 3,491.38 crore compared to Rs 3,439.20 crore in 2013-14, registering an increase of 1.52 per cent.
Total passenger earnings went up by 14.92 per cent to Rs 1,420.25 crore in the fiscal.
But goods earnings of NFR fell by 0.19 per cent to Rs 1,456.68 crore.
Earnings from �other coachings� grew over 13 per cent to Rs 155.83 crore, even as sundry earnings registered a huge slump of over 24 per cent and fell to Rs 458.62 crore.
The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during the fiscal also fell year-on-year by 6.85 per cent to 90.95 million.
�The low growth in total earnings can be attributed to fall in goods carriage during the second half of the fiscal. During the first six months of 2014-15, annual increase in both passenger and goods services had gone up significantly,� said an expert.
Officials said the Mega Block work in the Silchar-Lumding section during September-March period resulted in suspension of train operations to south Assam and neighbouring states and resulted in the slump.
�With completion of that project and also expansion of services to the North Bank and other parts, revenue generation will regain momentum this financial year,� an official said.
The total approximate gross earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis went up by over 12 per cent to Rs 1,57,880 crore in 2014-15 compared to the previous fiscal.
