The 57th Railway Week Celebrations of Southern Railway was celebrated today (12.04.2011) at Raja Annamalai Mandram, Chennai.The Chief Guest was Shri Deepak Krishan, General Manager, Southern Railway.
Speaking on the occasion, the General Manager said that Southern Railway achieved gross earnings of ` 5568 crores during the fiscal 2011-12. From passenger traffic the zone earned ` 2560 crores, which is ` 242 croresmore than the last year’s earnings. The earnings from goods traffic was ` 2221 crores which is an increase of ` 268 crores than last year. This year has also been special for the sundry earnings which have been achieved by licensing of land to Chennai Metro and this has touched an all time high of ` 512.9 crores.
The operating ratio has touched an all time low of 119.87 which is the best ever performance after the VI Pay Commission recommendations were implemented. The punctuality performance has improved to 93.8% in the last financial year. Coal and Fertilizer loading recorded 18.62 MT and 4.98 MT respectively which is the highest ever in the history of Southern Railway.
Southern Railway has achieved record earnings of ` 342.24 crores as against the Board’s target of ` 297 crores. Southern Railway was the first Zonal Railway to introduce e-auction for the sale of scrap.
In recognition of significant contributions made by Southern Railway, Railway Board has conferred the following efficiency shields:
ØShield for Level crossing & Road over bridge safety works.
ØCivil Engineering Construction Shield
ØSignal & Telecommunication Engineering Shield
ØComprehensive Health Care Shield
The GeneralManager also added said in the year 2011 - 2012 the originatingloading of freighthas reached 39.36 million tonnes as against the expected loading of 36.5 million tonnes and on the passenger sector Southern Railway has introduced 20 Mail/ Express trains, 5 suburban services and 3 MEMUs services.A total number of 1467 special trains and 2002 short special trains were also run in the last financial year.A record number of 123 coaches were permanently augmented to various Mail/Express trains.The punctuality of the railway has increased to 93.8%.
Shri. N.K Prasad, Chief Personnel Officer, Southern Railway welcomed the gathering.The programme began with a colourful cultural show and was followed by the distribution of efficiency shields and awards.Tiruchchirappalli Division bagged the GM’s Inter Divisional overall Efficiency Shield. Also as many as 219 individual awards and 18 group awards were distributed at the function. Dr. G. Narayanan, Additional General Manager, Southern Railway, Principal Heads of Southern Railway and other officials and large number of employees and their wards were present in the function.
