Vijayawada Railway Division (VRD) of South Central Railway has received Rs 3,975 crore in freight revenue this year as on Tuesday, the highest-ever since the division’s inception.
Announcing this on Wednesday, Vijayawada divisional railway manager (DRM) Narendra A. Patil said the record earnings came with loading of 36.2 million tonnes freight from within division’s area. He said the previous best revenue had been Rs 3,968 crore during financial year 2018–19.
Narendra Patil maintained that with monthly average freight earnings of VRD being Rs 331 crore, Vijayawada division is poised to surpass the ₹4,000 crore mark in freight earnings. He stated that the division is sprinting ahead towards another landmark of registering Rs 5,500 crore overall revenue for the first-time in its history.
The DRM disclosed that Adani Krishnapatnam Port provides the highest revenue, followed by Kakinada Sea Port. Coal remains the top commodity transported across the division, followed by fertilisers.
Narendra Patil pointed out that another bright spot is increase in shorter lead traffic as well as number of rakes dealt with at each and every location, thanks to efforts of local business development unit teams.
He said Vijayawada division is currently focused on modernising 15 goods sheds at multiple locations with an estimated cost of ₹153 crore. It proposes to provide connectivity to three more ports – Kakinada Gateway Port at Annavaram, Machilipatnam Port and Ramayapatnam Port. It will also develop a world class good shed terminal at Kakinada which, once commissioned, will prove to be game changer for Vijayawada division.
The DRM congratulated senior divisional commercial manager Rambabu Vavilapalli, commercial and operating staff for achieving the record-breaking freight performance during the current financial year.