MORBI

WR Press Release No 2020/12Mumbai, 14^th Dec, 2020

WESTERN RAILWAY TRANSPORTED 2000 TONNES OF TILES FROM GUJARAT TO KARNATAKA

PHOTO CAPTION : Freight wagons with consignment of tiles being readied for its journey from Morbi Goods shed in Rajkot to Maranayakanahalli in Karnataka.

The Multi-disciplinary Business Development Units of Western Railway at the zonal headquarters and divisions, are constantly initiating steps to attract new streams of traffic. These BDUs have been set up to attract new traffic and increase the railway’s share in the existing stream of traffic. Interactions with prospective customers are held frequently, to understand the pattern of goods transportation and explore the possibility of attracting additional freight. In continuation to this, Rajkot division has achieved a new mileage by loading 68 containers of tiles fromMorbi Goods Shed to Maranayakanahalli in Karnataka.

Accordingto a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, o­ne of the broad areas offunctioning of the BDU’s is to attract new traffic from the local industries into rail mode. Keeping in line with this, due to the vigorous efforts ofBDU of Rajkot Division, a deal was clinched for transportation of tiles from Morbi Goods shed to Maranayakanahalli in Karnataka. Till now tiles were being sent from Morbi, to the states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Now, the tiles are being sent for the first time to the state of Karnataka. Recently, around 2000 tonnes of tiles were sent from Morbi Goods Shed to Maranayakanahalli in Karnataka by loading of 68 containers in freight wagons. This consignment was booked by Rake Distribution Logistics Infrastructure Limited. The consignment of tiles traversed 1867 kms, thereby generating revenue of Rs 37.92 lakh. This loading was possible due to the various incentives provided by Western Railway. This traffic is likely to increase in the near future too.

Shri Thakur further added that since 23^rdMarch to 13^th Dec, 2020, commodities weighing more than 2.01 lakh tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 752 parcel special trains, which mainly included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc. The revenue generated through this transportation, has been about Rs 68.68 crore. During this period, 134 milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of approx. 1.02 lakh tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons. Similarly, 531 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of more than 62 thousand tonnes were also run to transport various essential commodities. In addition to this, 80 indented rakes carrying about 36 thousand tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization. 7 Kisan Rails have been run with load of 1450 tonnes. During the period from 22^nd March till 13^thDec, 2020, total24,460rakes of goods trains have been used by WR to supply essential commodities amounting to 53.75 million tonnes. 49,192 freight trains have been interchanged with other zonal railways, in which 24,600 trains were handed over and 24,592 trains taken over at different interchange points.

LOSS OF PASSENGER REVENUE DUE TO LOCKDOWN

The total loss of revenue over Western Railway o­n account of Corona Virus, has been approx. Rs 3516 crore, which includes aboutRs 559 crore for suburban section and approx. Rs 2957 crore for non -suburban. Inspite of this, resulting to cancellation of tickets since 1^st March, 2020 to13^th Dec, 2020, Western Railway has ensured to return refund amount ofRs. 542.15 crore. It's worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund ofmore than Rs 267 crore. Till now, 84.61 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.

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