Title - On revenue track : S. Rly records 16.25% growth

People in TN and Kerala seem to prefer trains over buses with Southern Railway (SR) recording another year of overwhelming revenues both in terms of passenger traffic and freight handling. According to SR general manager Mr Deepak Krishan, passenger traffic grew in terms of earnings by 10.44 per cent and freight by 13.77 per cent in the 2011-12 fiscal. Even the overall earnings grew by a handsome `778 crore, thereby registering a growth of 16.25 per cent over last year. Mr Krishan was speaking during the 57th Railway Week celebrations held in the city. Stating that the passenger demands had further increased following the local bus fare hike, Mr Krishan pointed out that SR introduced 20 mail/express trains besides increasing the frequency of a mail/express and extending two mail/express trains.Similarly, five suburban services and three MEMU services were introduced in the last fiscal in addition to extension of a passenger train and EMU each and increasing the frequency of two passenger trains. A total of 1,467 special trains and 2,002 short special trains were run besides permanently augmenting a record number of 123 coaches to mail and express trains in the last fiscal, he noted. SR has achieved an all-time low operating ratio of 119.87 per cent despite facing a huge salary bill following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. On the safety front, Mr Krishan said that 115 of the total 1,127 unmanned level crossing gates have been eliminated through provision of limited height subways, diversion of roads and outright closure of traffic in 78 unmanned gates and conversion of 37 others into manned level crossings.