NEW DELHI: The Indian Railway seems to have been hit hard by the economic slowdown with the earnings of the national transporter suffering a dip of Rs 155 crore and Rs 3,901 crore in passenger and freight fares respectively in the second quarter of the current fiscal, compared to the previous one.  Similarly, in the first quarter, the railways earned Rs 29,066.92 crore from freight loading. In the second quarter, the earnings from freight came down to Rs 25,165.13 crore. The railways has initiated a slew of measures to counter the slowdown. It recently waived its "busy season" surcharge on freight traffic.
 
Last month, in a letter, the Railway Board urged all the 17 Zones to take measures to counter the slowdown.

"The dip in freight loading is a cause of worry. While the flooding of coal mines has affected coal loading, the economic slowdown has affected the steel and cement sectors. However, we have taken measures to offset such losses and we will come out stronger," a senior railway official said.

Source: dst.news