Freight loading from Salem Rly. Division surpasses 3 million tonnes

Freight loading from various stations under Salem Railway Division surpassed three million tonnes recently, which is one of the highest since the inception of the Division.

The revenue through freight transportation have also increased compared to previous year, according to Railway officials.

The Salem Railway Division that was started in 2008-09 saw less than two million tonnes of freight loading in the initial years. Loading of various goods increased over the years from stations under the Division and it identified new sectors and operated special goods trains in recent years which helped the Division handle higher volume.

Steel and iron, cement, petroleum products, containers, ready-mix concrete, agriculture equipment and produce are some of the commonly transported goods from the Division. Till February this financial year, the Division transported 2.89 million tonnes of goods, earning ₹241.98 crore revenue. In March, it surpassed 3 million tonnes.

E. Hari Krishnan, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Salem, said that between April and February last fiscal (2020-21), the Division transported 2.42 million tonnes of goods, earning ₹198.8 crore revenue. This year, the earnings were 21% higher than the previous year. Besides regular goods, the Division also transported agriculture equipment such as harvester machines to different parts of the country from here.

The Division on Sunday transported cotton seeds from the Salem Junction to Bathinda in Punjab. Railway officials said 5,559 quintals of cotton seeds packed in 33,341 bags were loaded on 24 parcel vans here to be transported to Punjab. The Division earned a revenue of ₹30.41 lakh through this.