WRs BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UNIT OF AHMEDABAD DIVISION
MAKES ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH OF LOADING
INDUSTRIAL SALT IN OPEN WAGONS
Photo Caption :Loading of salt at Maliya Miyana station of Ahmedabad division for Nangal Dam station of Umbala division.
Western Railway’s multi-disciplinary Business Development Units (BDU) set up at Zonal Headquarters and at Divisions is doing a commendable job of improving business prospects in freight market by incorporating new ideas and initiatives. Western Railway’s BDUs with various incentives schemes to attract freight transporters had recently made a breakthrough by transporting materials by two of its trains to Bangladesh. The first train was loaded with onions at Bhavnagar Division's Dhoraji station and the second was from Ahmedabad’s Kankariya goods shed loaded with cloth materials, chemicals and dyes. Both these goods train crossed international borders andleft for Bangladesh. Now Ahmedabad Division has once again proved its mettle by loading of industrial salt in open wagons
According to a press release issued by Shri Sumit Thakur- Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Rly, the loading of industrial salt has been regained after six years and this was made possible only with the perseverance of Ahmedabad divisions BDU. As per the directives of the Railway Board, Western Rlyhas now come up with five new incentive schemes to attract freight transporters to tie up with Railways for transportation of their goods and parcels, in addition to earlier freight incentives. Policy initiative taken by Railway Board on proposal of Ahmedabad division and reduction of classification of salt for industrial use and revising the same from class 120 to 100 A has made this possible. Salt for Industrial use has been allowed to be loaded as loose condition in open wagons. The loose loading is permitted with condition that the floor of wagons and sides are covered by tarpaulins so as to ensure that there should not be any damage/ corrosion of wagons due to Salt. In case of such damage/ corrosion, customer will be liable to pay for such damages. The instructions for this incentive has been made effective from 5th August, 2020 and is valid till further notice. In continuation to this the first loading of salt after a gap of six years took place on 15th August, 2020 from Maliya Miyana station in Ahmedabad Division. This rake is booked for Nangal Dam station in Umbala division for Punjab Alkalies Ltd. The industrial salt is being transported by BOXNHL 58 wagon rake traversing 1343 kms with load of 3828 tons.
Shri Thakur further added that, despite complete lockdown imposed from 22ndMarch, 2020 and the current partial lockdown, Western Railway has done commendable work by loading 12,152 rakes of goods trains till 15th August, 2020. The loading included variousessential commodities such as POL - 1291, Fertilizers - 2173, Salt - 641, Foodgrain-116, Cement - 969, Coal -458, Containers – 5629& General Goods - 54 rakes, amounting to 25.02 Million Tonnes to different states of the country, including North East region. In addition to this Millennium Parcel Van and Milk Tank Wagons containing various essential commodities such as medicine, medical kits, frozen food, milk powder and liquid milk were loaded to Northern & North East region. Total 23,721 Freight trains were interchanged with other Railways including 11,851trains handed over and 11,870trains taken over at different interchange points of Western Railway. During the period, important inward rakes such as 1572 rakes of Jumbo, 757rakes of BOXN and 666 rakes of BTPN were unloaded despite shortage of labour at various stations over Western Rly.In addition to above goods traffic, since 23rd March to 15th Aug, 2020, commodities weighing more than 99,800 tonnes have been transported by Western Rly through its 470 parcel special trains, which mainly included agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk etc.The revenue generated through this transportation, has been approx. Rs 32 crore. During this period, 74 milk special trains were run by Western Rly, with a load of more than 56 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating revenue of above Rs 9.68 crore. Similarly, 373 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of more than 33,800tonnes were also run to transport various essential commodities, for which the revenue earned was aboutRs 17.13 crore. In addition to this, 23 indented rakes carrying 9933 tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization generating revenue of above Rs 5.33 crore.WR has scheduled to run various timetabled Parcel special trains during lockdown period to different parts of the country. on 16th August, 2020one parcel special trains left from Okha to New Guwahati.
LOSS OF PASSENGER REVENUE DUE TO LOCKDOWN
The total loss of revenue over Western Railway on account of Corona Virus, has been approx.Rs 2161 crore, which includes Rs 324 crore for suburban section and Rs 1837 crore for non-suburban. In spite of this, resulting to cancellation of tickets since 1st March, 2020 till 15thAug, 2020, Western Railway has ensured torefundRs. 414.95 crore. It's worth mentioning that in this refund amount, Mumbai division alone, has ensured refund ofRs 199.64 crore. Till now, 63.96 lakh passengers have cancelled their tickets over entire Western Railway & have received their refund amount accordingly.
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