GUWAHATI, Aug 10 - The overall economic downturn on account of the COVID-19 pandemic has had its effects on the revenue earnings from freight traffic of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
The Maligaon-headquartered zone�s revenue earnings from freight traffic on an originating basis stood at Rs 199.63 crore in the first quarter of the current 2020-21 financial year, compared to Rs 366.07 crore in the same period of the last fiscal. This resulted in a steep decline of over 45 per cent on an annual basis.
During the period under review, the commodity-wise freight traffic on an originating basis of NFR also plunged by over 45 per cent year-on-year to 1.48 million tonnes (MT) as against 2.71 MT in the first quarter of 2019-20.
�The latest numbers are a reflection of the pandemic�s impact which is visible across all sectors of the Indian economy. Initially there was the nationwide lockdown and later some state governments imposed area-specific lockdown. With most economic activities at standstill, there was drastic reduction in demand for most commodities barring essential items,� said an official.
He, however, added that despite the fall in earnings, the performance of the freight segment is still better as compared to the passenger segment.
�Goods trains continued operations round-the-clock during the lockdown and we were able to ensure supply of essential commodities to all places,� said the official.
Sources added that both demand and revenue had shown some improvement during the month of June.
�We expect the situation to improve further in the second quarter and to return to pre-lockdown levels by the third quarter. With gradual reopening of all sectors of the economy, there will also be renewal of demand for various commodities. In addition, we have offered various incentives for transporters, businessmen and traders which are also expected to lead to increase in freight bookings. The parcel express trains operated by our zone for the past three-four months have received very good response. Considering everything, we expect positive developments in coming months, at least as far as the freight segment is concerned,� added the official.
NFR�s freight earnings from fertilisers, raw materials for steel plants, foodgrain and container service, among others, witnessed a dip in the first quarter of this fiscal compared to the year-ago period.
But the zone reported a growth in earnings from transportation of coal, cement and mineral oil.
During the quarter ended June 30, NFR earned Rs 20.15 crore from transportation of 0.10 MT of coal, Rs 3.62 crore from transportation of 0.03 MT of raw materials for steel plants and Rs 2.18 crore from 0.04 MT of cement.
NFR also transported 0.22 MT of foodgrains earning Rs 45.50 crore during the April-June period of this year, besides 0.04 MT of fertilisers earning Rs 2.15 crore in revenue.
During the first three months of this fiscal, NFR earned Rs 111.87 crore from transportation of 0.80 MT of mineral oil.
Besides, the zone earned Rs 2.13 crore from transportation of 0.01 MT of container service and Rs 12.03 crore from 0.24 MT of �other goods� in the period from April 1 to June 30 of this year.
Overall, the Indian Railways� cumulative revenue earnings from freight traffic during the period under review stood at just over Rs 22,266 crore, which is a decline of over 31 per cent on an annual basis, while its commodity-wise freight traffic also registered a dip of over 21 per cent to 241.55 MT.
It is also noteworthy that all zones of the Indian Railways barring the Northern Railway (NR), registered a fall in freight earnings during the first quarter of this fiscal.
