Growth in South Eastern Railway’s freight earnings

Growth in South Eastern Railway’s freight earnings

Kolkata: During the first seven months of the current financial year i.e. April-October of 2018-19, South Eastern Railway has earned Rs. 7082.82 crores from originating freight traffic which is Rs.353.86 crores more than the corresponding period of last year i.e. 2017-18 thus registering a growth of 5.26%.

This growth in freight earnings has been possible due to the increase in freight loading during the above period. South Eastern Railway’s total freight loading during April-October of the current financial year has been 88.38 million tonnes as against 86.06 million tonnes loaded during the corresponding period of last year recording a growth of 2.70%.

The major components of freight loading during the above period were  46.90 million tonnes of Iron Ore, 19.31 million tonnes of Coal, 8.84 million tonnes of Pig-Iron & Finished Steel, 6.26 million tonnes of Cement etc. Coal loading during April to October of the current financial year has been 45% more than the corresponding period of last financial year and about 9% more than the target fixed by Railway Board.

Rationalisation of flexy fare scheme

Kolkata: Ministry of Railways have decided to rationalise the Flexi Fare Scheme in Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto Trains as under, which will be implemented w.e.f. 15.03.2019 on an experimental basis for a period of six months.

●      Discontinuation of Flexi-fare in some trains with average monthly occupancy less than 50%.

●      Discontinuation of Flexi-fare, in lean period of 3 months, in some trains with average monthly occupancy between 50-75%

●      The maximum current cap of 1.5 times to be reduced to 1.4 times in all classes.

●      To increase the occupancy of less patronised classes (2nd AC, 3rd AC, AC Chair Car etc.), Graded discount of 20% on last fare on all trains with Flexi Fare and Humsafar Trains where occupancy of a particular class is less than 60% (4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train).

Further, 10% discount will be offered as per the table is given below:

Up to -70% occupancy     :       20% on last fare

70-80% occupancy          :       10% on last fare

Above 80% occupancy     :       Nil

Withdrawal of Flexi Fare Scheme from the following train originating/terminating in SE Railway

* 12277 Howrah – Puri Shatabdi Express

Withdrawal of Flexi Fare Scheme during 3 months(February, March & August) from the following train originating/terminating in SE Railway

* 12020 Ranchi – Howrah Shatabdi Express

* 12278 Puri – Howrah Shatabdi Express

* 12453 Ranchi – New Delhi Rajdhani Express.

Unreserved ticketing mobile app becoming more popular in S E Railway

Kolkata: After the extension of service for purchasing of unreserved railway tickets through Mobile App (UTSONMOBILE) introduced all over India on and from 1st November 2018, a good response has been observed from the passengers in S E Railway jurisdiction.

As a big leap, booking of unreserved tickets on all non-suburban sections in addition to suburban sections across all Zonal Railways has been made available from 1st November to enable seamless booking of unreserved tickets all over Indian Railways which will obviate the need for passengers to wait in queues for purchasing the tickets. The facility of booking unreserved tickets including season tickets and also platform tickets are available through the ‘UTSONMOBILE’ app.

In South Eastern Railway, the number of passengers purchasing unreserved tickets through the mobile app in the first week of October 2018 was only 38,565. In the first week of November after the extension of the service across all Zones, the number of passengers has gone up to 43,018. Earnings of S E Railway from UTS On Mobile in the first week of October was Rs 4,49,923. The earnings on this account have gone up to Rs. 6,37,843 in the first week of November 2018.

In comparison to the first week of October 2018, there has been an increase of approx 5000 passengers and earnings of rupees two lakhs in the first week of November after all India implementation of the utility. In S E Railway the service is now availed by 6000 to 7000 passengers per day and the average earnings per day is Rs 80,000 to 1 lakh.

To make the service more popular among the passengers, a 24-hour Helpline (No 033 22107435) is functioning in this regard.

Unreserved Mobile Ticketing has been introduced by Ministry of Railways with a view to promoting Cashless transactions (Digital payment), Contactless ticketing (no need to physically visit the point of sale) and Customer convenience and experience.