South Central Railway bets on cement to push freight volumes

Secunderabad: Riding high on the good performance with a share of 22 per cent in the total cement loading in Indian Railways, South Central Railway is looking to further improve its performance.

Senior officials met the representatives of the cement manufacturers at the SCR headquarters at Rail Nilayam here on Friday. Representatives from major cement industries like Ultratech, India Cements, Kesoram and Vasavadatta Cements, ACC, Orient Cements, Bharati Cements attended the meeting assured that cement loading will increase in the coming months.

Cement industry is the second largest freight contributer for South Central Railway. SCR loaded 13.76 tonnes of cement during the current financial year up to October, which is highest amongst all zonal railways.

Railways offered various solutions like containerisation to make it attractive for cement customers to transport cement by rail which is very environment friendly and safe. However, Railways wanted cement companies to improve their loading and unloading faster because there is also heavy demand for rakes for fertilisers movement and foodgrain movement, especially for upcoming sowing and procuring season from agriculture sector.

Various options for movement of fly ash from power plants to cement plants was also explored in the meeting. N Madhusudana Rao, Additional Member (Traffic), Railway Board, John Prasad, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Nagya, Chief Freight Transportation Manager and other officials participated in the meeting.