<p id="content">The South Central Railway (SCR) zone has witnessed a year-on-year upswing in freight operations for the second consecutive month in October despite the Covid induced economic slowdown.</p>
"The freight loading of the zone for the month of October surpassed the freight loading of the corresponding period of the previous year, showing continued positive momentum," said an official.

In October, the railway zone ferried freight amounting to 8.4 metric tonnes (MT), compared to 8.2 MT in 2019.

"This is the second consecutive month wherein the monthly freight loading in the current financial year has surpassed the levels recorded during the last financial year," he said.

Demand for freight is being driven by commodities, excluding coal.

Cement freight loading witnessed a growth of 35 per cent to 2.7 MT, considering major cement industry clusters being located in the zone.

Foodgrains and fertilizer freight also rose by 57 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, to 0.7 MT and 0.6 MT in October.

Likewise, container freight loading has also increased by 25 per cent to 0.16 MT.

In the current financial year, Indian Railways focused on freight, offering concessions and introducing several policy initiatives for sectors such as food grains, fertilizers, cement and others.

Additionally, it has also set up business development units (BDUs) at both the zonal and divisional levels, resulting in strengthening existing freight traffic and attracting new traffic in the current financial year.

"Though there is a decline in coal loading, which is a traditional traffic for SCR, persistent efforts by these teams has lead not only to the rebound in the growth in freight loading but also in making the growth more broad based," he said.

Similarly, railways officials regularly interacted with customers, explaining the several advantages of moving freight through trains.

Incidentally, the average speed of freight trains rose from 26 km per hour to 51 km per hour in October 2020, compared to October 2019..