The total freight revenue earnings by railways in 1998-99 stood at Rs 19941.53 crore as against Rs 19595.01 crore in the previous year.

The increase in total revenue earnings in freight by railways is in spite of a decline in freight tonnage by 1.97 per cent. This is due to the increase in freight rates and cut in subsidies and cross-subsidisation in case of certain items.

Revenue earnings from movement of foodgrains marked an increase by 16.17 per cent in 1998-99 through an increase in cargo tonnage by 5.44 per cent. The revenue earnings through foodgrains movement in 1998-99 was Rs 1400.48 crore as against Rs 1205.52 crore in 1997-98. A total amount of 27.74 million tonne of foodgrains was carried by railways in 1998-99 as against 26.31 million tonne in the previous year.

Though the freight movement in tonnage forPOL marked a greater increase in 1998-99 by 7.61 per cent, the revenue earnings on this account increased by only 1.67 per cent over the previous year.

Next major cause for increase in revenue earnings is due to the movement of fertilisers. The freight tonnage in fertilisers in 1998-99 increased by 3.82 per cent thereby effecting an increase in revenue earnings by 8.78 per cent.

As in railway freights, the principle of longer the distance, the lesser the rates and shorter the distance the more the rates apply, the estimation of earning in paise per kilometre per net tonne gives the true picture of commercial viability of undertaking such commodities for transport. The movement of foodgrains in 1998-99 marked an increase of 8.10 per cent in terms of earning in paise per kilometre per net tonne. This is due to the average lead in kilometres for transport for foodgrains increasing by 22 per cent.

The revenue increase as per earnings per million tonne in case of foodgrains is highest at 10.18 per cent.

Incase of fertiliser movement, the earning in paise per kilometre per net kilometre increased to 4.63 per cent and revenue earnings per million tonne increased by 4.78 per cent. The freight movement in fertiliser as per net tonne per kilometre (in million) increased by 873 per cent whereas the average lead in kilometres increased by only one per cent.

The revenue earnings in movement of other goods increased by 5.28 per cent in 1998-99, whereas the revenue earnings from movement of coal for steel plants increased by 5.13 per cent.

The freight through container services of railways in 1998-99 was 7.11 million tonne as against 6.70 million tonne, thereby marking an increase of 6.12 per cent. The revenue earnings through container services also increased to Rs 373.05 crore by 8.11 per cent.