ECoR sets new benchmark in freight loading

Bhubaneswar: In the financial year 2023-24, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has set a new benchmark in freight loading, surpassing all previous records of Indian Railways. From April 1st, 2023 to March 25th, 2024, ECoR successfully loaded 250 million tons of freight, breaking the previous record set in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Moreover, ECoR has become the first zone to exceed the milestone of 200 million tonnes of loading for the fifth consecutive time. This remarkable achievement was made possible through the significant contributions of the three divisions within ECoR.

East Coast Railway was the Second Railway Zone after undivided South Eastern Railway to load 200 MT in the financial year 2019-20. Today, it has become the first zone to cross 250 MT of freight.

During the financial year 2023-24, East Coast Railway has loaded 149.50 MT of Coal, 12.9MT of Raw Materials to Steel Plants, 20.15 MT of Steel & Slag, 37.4 MT of Iron Ore, 1.21 MT of Cement, 3.16 MT of Food Grains, 6.4 MT of Fertilizers, 3.0 MT of Mineral Oil, 23.27 MT of freight in Containers and other goods. This is 6% more than the corresponding period of last year.

Khurda Road Division of ECoR has contributed 156.17 million ton followed by 74.66 million ton by Waltair Division and 19.20 million ton by Sambalpur Division. All the three Divisions have performed better than previous year and surpassed their last year loading figure.

The coalfields of MCL at Talcher, five ports in ECoR jurisdiction, i.e. Paradeep, Dhamara, Vizag, Gangavaram & Gopalpur; iron ore mines in Bailadila in Chhattisgarh, Major Steel & Aluminium Companies, iron ore mines in Keonjhar District are the major contributors in this achievements.