Chandigarh: The Ambala Division of Northern
Railway is eyeing 20 per cent jump in its total income to Rs
1,800 crore in 2010-11 by transporting foodgrains, courtesy an
expected bumper output of wheat and rice in Punjab.
"We are anticipating 20 per cent jump in our total income
in current fiscal, which will mainly be coming from freight
collection, for transporting foodgrains including wheat and
rice from Punjab to other states," Northern Railway (Ambala),
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, G.M. Singh told PTI
here today.
Ambala Division’s 90 per cent of income generated from
freight segment comes from transportation of food grain from
Punjab to other states.
"If we have a bumper output of wheat and rice in Punjab
this year, it will definitely lead to higher collection of
freight as FCI (Food Corporation of India) will be sending out
more food grain to other states through our network," he said.
This year Punjab is expecting wheat and paddy output of
150 lakh tonnes and over 155 lakh tonnes, respectively.
Ambala Division covers 64.5 per cent rail network of
Punjab, 18.5 per cent of Haryana, 11 per cent of Himachal
Pradesh, three per cent each of UP and Rajasthan.
Northern Railway (Ambala) earned total income of Rs 1,517
crore (which comprises of income from passenger and freight
segments) in 2009-10 with an average growth of 24 per cent.
Out of the total income, Rs 367 crore was earned from
passenger segment with a growth of 11 per cent.
"We saw substantial growth of 29 per cent in freight
collection last fiscal because of high output of wheat and
paddy in Punjab," he said.
However, railway authorities are looking at 10 per cent
growth in income from passenger fares in current fiscal.
Ambala Division has a passenger traffic of 1.8 lakh persons
per day.
Northern Railway is also in process of converting Ambala
railway station to a world-class one. "We will be submitting
our report to GM Northern Railway in 3 to 4 months and
thereafter a consultant will be hired to guide us about
converting it (Ambala) to a world-class station," said
Divisional Railway Manager, Y.P. Singh.
He said Centre has already decided to have world-class
railway stations in Delhi, Chandigarh, Ambala, Patna, Chennai,
among others.
-PTI
