New Delhi, Feb 26: Railways will move a total of 540 million tonnes of freight on its nation-wide network in 2003-04, reflecting a five per cent increase over the previous year to earn Rs 27,815 crore. As per the Railway Budget for 2003-04 presented by Railways Minister Nitish Kumar in the Lok Sabha today, earnings of sector from freight traffic is expected to increase by 4.3 per cent over the previous fiscal's Rs 26,658 crore.
Increase in earnings from freight traffic is expected to come from a higher tonnage of coal even though the ministry has projected a lower tonnage of petroleum, oil and lubricants to 33 million tonnes from 34.50 million tonnes during 2002-03. Earnings from transport of pol is expected to decline to Rs 2,436 crore from Rs 2,677.93 crore during the fiscal 2002-03. Tonnage of coal is, however, expected to increase to 242 million tonnes from 235 million tonnes in 2002-03, with earnings accordingly increasing to Rs 11,840 crore from Rs 11,440 crore in the current fiscal.
Freight tonnage of all the other segments is expected to increase marginally including those of food grains, cement, fertilisers, iron ore and coal.
Bureau Report