NEW DELHI: Railway minister Piyush Goyal met with stakeholders from coal and power sectors on Monday to discuss issues pertaining to transportation of coal through rail, which accounts for almost 50% of the national transporter’s freight basket.
The meeting was held to ensure consolidation of the railways’ coal business and discuss ways and means to further improve the joint operational productivity of the railways, coal and power sectors concerning coal freight, the railway ministry said in a statement.
“Railways was making relentless efforts in the field of boosting freight loading and there was no scope of any slippages on any front,” Goyal, who is also the minister for commerce and industry, was quoted as saying in the statement.
In FY20, coal loading was 587 million tonnes of total freight of 1,210 million tonnes loaded by the railways.
“There is a great potential to further enhance loading of coal. An increase in coal loading will have a significant positive impact on railways freight revenues,” the statement said.
The meeting was part of the railway ministry’s efforts to boost its freight loading. Last month, the railways loaded 15.3% more freight than the same month last year.
