JAIPUR: The North Western Railway has made a turnaround in its fourth year of inception by earning a profit of Rs. 93 crores. The zone, established on October 21, 2002, amid considerable scepticism about its financial viability, did well both in passenger and freight traffic in 2005-06 to achieve an operating ratio of 94.75 per cent till March this year.

"We are out of the red for the first time," S.B. Bhattacharya, General Manager of N-W Railway, told a press conference convened here on Monday to provide the performance details of the nascent railway zone. "Earnings from both the freight and passenger traffic have gone up. This is when there has not been any hike in the rates," he pointed out. The zone had an overall business of Rs. 1849.13 crores in 2005-06 against an expenditure of Rs.1756.58 crores. The previous year's operating ratio had been 104.94 per cent.

The income from passenger traffic rose from Rs. 492.31 crores in 2004-05 to Rs. 572.75 crores in 2005-06. The income from goods traffic, which was to the tune of Rs. 880.16 crores the past year, registered 30.27 per cent increase to touch Rs. 1146.61 crores.

"We introduced 14 per cent more goods trains. The facility of booking for goods was introduced in more railway stations during the period," Mr. Bhattacharya observed.

The number of rail passengers in the zone touched 930 lakhs during the period to register an increase of 14 per cent from that of the previous year.

"We have improved in punctuality performance also by 1.2 per cent," Mr. Bhattacharya noted ascribing the fiscal turnaround of the zone to the team work of officers and staff and introduction of various innovative methods from time to time.

"Every time when we found that there was a scope for more passengers we introduced more coaches in the existing trains and also ran holiday specials," Mr.Bhattacharya informed. As many as 1948 special trains were operated by NW zone on the occasion of important fairs and festivals and during the summer and winter vacations to accommodate additional passenger traffic.

Additional 1524 bogies were attached to the existing trains during the period.

NW Railway operated 570 water specials during 2005-06 to meet the drinking water requirements of the drought-affected areas of Rajasthan.

The water specials— 470 on broad gauge and 100 on metre gauge— together carried 810 million litres of water.

The water specials are getting ready for operation from May 15 this year, Mr. Bhattacharya informed.

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