Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has achieved a new milestone in freight loading in financial year 2022-23.
The ECoR loaded 241.51 million tonne (MT) of freight from its jurisdiction against 232.13 MT loaded in 2021-22 financial year by registering an increase of 9.37 MT. The ECoR became the first zone to have achieved such figures in freight loading over Indian Railways.
The ECoR is also the only zone of Indian Railways which crossed 220 MT, 230 MT and 240 MT in the current fiscal. The Ministry of Railways had set a target to load 240.60 MT for the ECoR for FY 2022-23.
The ECoR loaded on an average of about 10,000 wagons per day during the current FY despite challenges and adverse conditions like public agitations, workers issues in loading and unloading, Maoist activities and other railway construction activities which required blocks to be taken on many routes.
Among major freight carried by ECoR including 149.64 MT coal, followed by 25.56 MT iron ore, 19.33 iron and steel, 5.90 MT fertiliser, 3.89 MT container, 7.79 MT raw material for steel plants.
The 3 divisions that made major contributions included Khurda Road-155.34 MT, Waltair-69.63 MT and Sambalpur-16.54 MT. Khurda Road and Waltair divisions have obtained the 3rd and 6th position respectively among 68 divisions of Indian Railways.
During the financial year, ECoR contributed 15% of total loading by Indian Railways, i.e., 1512.073 MT. South East Central Railway which loaded 214.58 MT came 2nd after ECoR, while South Eastern Railway came third with loading figure of 202.61 MT.
ECoR general manager Manoj Sharma congratulated the entire workforce and gave full credit for this achievement to its hardworking and dedicated staff.
