The government is working on a long-term policy with lock-in contracts especially for cargo to help increase and diversify freight revenues, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
Efforts were on to complete the dedicated freight corridor by 2019 and work has been fast-tracked on it by awarding contracts worth Rs 24,000 crore.
Noting that a lot of work was required to be taken up on the freight corridor, he said the land acquisition issue was also being resolved.
Prabhu said the Railways was also encouraging setting up private freight terminals. “We are encouraging the private freight terminals which sets up a warehouse and would combine small cargo and come to railways as big cargo, which will benefit us,” he said.
The Minister informed members that two-third of railways revenue is through freight and 50 per cent of that is from Coal. The entire Railways is run from freight coming from ten major commodities, he said.
In this regard, he talked about the “Beyond Coal Mission” launched by railways to think beyond coal and concentrate on other cargo for increased freight revenue.
Prabhu said there has also been the highest ever iron ore loading of 137.3 MT in railways, surpassing previous best of 117.4 MT in 2015-16, exceeding it by 17 per cent.
There has also been the highest steel loading of 48 MT surpassing previous best of 42.5 MT, exceeding it by 13.4 per cent, he said, adding that there is also been highest-ever raw material transportation for steel plants of 21 MT.[/vc_column_text]
