The railways expect the boom in the steel industry to continue. With the industry promising a 22 per cent growth in the traffic of iron ore for exports, the railways have set its total loading target for the next fiscal year at 630 million tonnes.
This year the railways are likely to move 590 million tonnes of iron ore, though its budgetary target was 580 million tonnes. The railway ministry is projecting a growth of 6.78 per cent in its loading for 2005-06.
Iron ore exports have shown a steep growth during last couple of years. In the April-January period, traffic under this category grew by 41 per cent, overshooting the target set for the entire year by 5.5 per cent.
The growth in construction activity is expected to give boost to cement traffic. This year, however, the railways are gaining market share in this category, after its share in the total cement carried falling over the years.
The industry has promised 10 per cent more traffic in 2005-06. The share of cement being carried by the railways has been stagnant at 39.7 per cent in past two years is expected to improve this year.
Railways also expects that the domestic steel industry will see greater production, with the industry promising about 6-8 per cent more traffic.
In contrast, for the current fiscal year the ministry had not envisaged any growth in this sector as a cut in steel production was expected because of scarcity in coking coal.
Foodgrains traffic, on the other hand, is expected to grow slightly by 2-3 per cent with low production in the current year and lower buffer stocks affecting traffic.
The projections for petroleum and fertilisers conform to earlier trends, where the traffic for both commodities is expected to slip in the next fiscal year. The railways have been losing out on petroleum traffic to pipelines.
© 2025