NEW DELHI (Metro Rail & Steel): Indian Railways, as per its latest performance report, has encountered a stark slowdown in the commissioning of new lines integrated with its safety system, Kavach. The report highlighted that until October this year, there were no new lines commissioned with Kavach, in stark contrast to the 10 km commissioned during the same period last fiscal year. Furthermore, this stands significantly below the targeted 637 km set for commissioning by October 2023.
The performance highlight of Indian Railways up to October 2023, focusing on punctuality and infrastructure creation, revealed a decrease in various developmental categories. While new line setup measured 186.65 km, doubling of lines amounted to 1019.69 km, and gauge conversion reached 96 km. However, the cumulative growth of 1302.34 km by October-end reflects a concerning 25% decrease compared to last year’s achievements across these categories, which encompassed 1728.55 km.
This decline in infrastructure growth has raised concerns, particularly due to the additional expenditure incurred in this regard coupled with the reduced commissioning, as indicated by the report. The report also highlighted a decline in punctuality, revealing that only 73% of trains were operating on time, significantly down from 83.5% during the same period last year. Apart from the Kavach lines and punctuality, Indian Railways’ progress in infrastructure building across other categories has also fallen short of last year’s achievements. For instance, only 8 Gati Shakti terminals were established till October, marking a 38% decrease compared to the 13 terminals set up in the same period last fiscal year.
However, despite these setbacks, there has been an uptick in the cumulative basis freight loading, recording 887.25 million tonnes, marking a 4% increase year-on-year. This stands in contrast to last year’s freight loading of 855.64 million tonnes. The railways also reported an increase in earnings, totaling ₹95,929.30 crore, reflecting a ₹3584.03 crore increase compared to the same period last year. During October, originating freight loading surged by 8% compared to the same month last year, reaching 129.03 million tonnes. Freight revenue during the month stood at ₹14231.05 crore, marking a 6.57% increase. The month’s freight loading comprised various commodities including coal, iron ore, pig iron and finished steel, cement, clinker, food grains, fertilizers, mineral oil, containers, and other goods categories.
