Southern Railway’s freight loading has for the first time crossed the 40-million-tonne mark, Rakesh Misra, Southern Railway General Manager, said on Friday.
Addressing the 59th Railway Week celebrations organised by Southern Railway, Mr. Misra said that during 2013-14, the zonal railway had recorded its best-ever loading of 42.403 million tonnes of freight.
The good originating loading has boosted freight earnings to Rs.2746 crore during the year compared to the earnings of Rs.2421 crore in 2012-13 – representing a growth of nearly 13.4 per cent.
Southern Railway has also achieved its best-ever performance in the passenger segment last year with its earnings of Rs.3787 crore registering a growth of 16 per cent over the previous year.
The other highlights included introduction of 22 new Mail / Express trains, three new passenger trains and three new pairs of MEMUs (Mainline Electric Multiple Units).
It was praiseworthy that the zone maintained a punctuality record of 94 per cent despite the introduction of so many new trains and significant constraints like single line working, he said.
Earlier, presenting merit awards to railway staff and divisions, the chief guest, Major General R.G. Krishnan, VSM, drew parallels between the Indian Railways and the Indian Army and their shared rich heritage and stature of being among the largest employers and land holders in the country.
Southern Railway’s Madurai Division has bagged the General Manager’s Inter-Divisional overall Efficiency Shield while Chennai Division picked up five ‘efficiency shields’ for its noteworthy performance in the departments of commercial, engineering, operating, security and accounts.
Thiruvananthapuram Division bagged the general manager’s inter-divisional overall efficiency shield as runner and 18 gazetted officers and 109 non-gazetted staff given merit awards. In all, 33 efficiency shields and 10 group awards were presented.
