Railways' freight earnings up 8.39 per cent at Rs57,594.61 crore in 2009-10

The Railways reported an 8.39 per cent increase in revenue earnings from commodity freight traffic at Rs57,594.61 crore during the financial year 2009-10 against Rs53,137.60 crore during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Railways carried 887.99 million tonnes of freight during April-March 2009-10 as compared to 833.31 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year - an increase of 6.56 per cent.

The net tonne kilo metres (NTKM) went up from 538,226 million during April-March 2008-09 to 584,760 million during April-March 2009-10, showing an increase of 8.65 per cent.

Of the total Rs57,594.61 crore earnings from commodity freight traffic during 2009-10, Rs22,366.69 crore came from transportation of 396.10 million tonnes of coal, followed by Rs8,350.77 crore from 132.72 million tonnes of iron ore for exports, steel plants and for other domestic user, Rs5,282.55 crore from 93.15 million tonnes of cement, Rs3,972.39 crore from 37.52 million tonnes of foodgrains, Rs3,319.63 crore from 39.49 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant (POL), Rs3,336.19 crore from 30.93 million tonnes of pig iron and finished steel from steel plants and other points, Rs3,174.51 crore from 43.58 million tonnes of fertilisers, Rs2,772.43 crore from 34.36 million tonnes by container service, Rs883.46 crore from 11.58 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants except iron ore, and Rs4,135.99 crore from 68.56 million tonnes of other goods.