Despite posting overall good results in the current fiscal, Railways saw a marginal decline in freight loading in February.
The decline was about 0.86 per cent as the Railways carried 70.02 million tonnes of freight traffic as compared to 70.63 million tonnes carried during the same period previous year.
However, the total freight loading during the first 11 months this fiscal saw an increase of 5.03 per cent as compared to the same period last year.
Railways carried 751.30 million tonnes of freight traffic from April 2008 to February 2009, which was an increase of 35.97 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 715.33 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year.
Similarly, the total passenger revenue earnings during the first 11 month of the current financial year went up by 11 per cent as the Railways earned Rs 19,906 crore (Rs 199.06 billion) compared to Rs 17,934 crore (Rs 179.34 billion) during the same period last year.
Passengers booked during this period was 648 crore (Rs 6.48 billion) compared to 609 crore (Rs 6.09 billion) during the corresponding period last year. This was an increase of 6.3 per cent.
The total goods earned went up from Rs 43,283 crore (Rs 432.83 billion) during the said period to Rs 48,800 crore (Rs 488 billion) during the same period last year, which is also an increase of 12.75 per cent, according to a release.
Railways total earnings were Rs 71,765.77 crore (Rs 717.657 billion) during the first 11 months of the current fiscal comparing to Rs 64,067 crore (Rs 640.67 billion) during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 12.02 per cent.
Likewise, there was 6 per cent increase in earnings from coaching which includes parcels. Railways earned Rs 1,803 crore (Rs 18.03 billion) during this period from coaching as compared to Rs 1,690 crore (Rs 16.90 billion) in the corresponding period last year.
The sundry earnings also went up by 8.15 per cent during this period. Railways earned Rs 1,254 crore (Rs 12.54 billion) in this period as against Rs 1,159.71 crore (Rs 11.597 billion) during the corresponding period last year.
