Mysore/Mysuru: South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru Division, celebrated 74th Republic Day at Railway Sports Grounds in Yadavagiri yesterday.

After unfurling the Tri-colour, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Mysuru Division, Rahul Agarwal emphasised on the sterling performance of Mysuru Division during the previous year, leaving behind the adversities of the pandemic and achieved with great efforts of sincere and dedicated Railwaymen and women. Financial performance of Mysuru Division in the current year has been quite remarkable, he said.

DRM Agarwal also spoke about the excellent performance of Mysuru Division till third quarter (Dec. 2022) as the gross revenue was Rs. 886.24 crore, up by 3 percent over the previous year. In the freight segment, the Division has loaded 6.53 Million tonnes with earnings of Rs. 557.34 crore which is 1 per cent and 10 per cent higher respectively compared to the previous year (6.49 MT and Rs 504.71 crore), he informed.

Mysuru Division has also earned Rs. 30.93 crore under Sundry earnings which is the highest ever for any year. Further, owing to the due diligence exercised during internal checks by the Finance Department, the Division achieved savings of Rs. 37.81 crores in the first nine months of this fiscal year.

For the first time in the history of Mysuru Division, we are able to cross Rs. 100 crore in freight earnings in a month or precisely Rs. 108.60 crore in Dec. 2022. In the terms of tonnage too, the Division has achieved 0.988 Million tonnes in Dec. 2022 which is the highest ever loading achieved in any month, surpassing the figure of 0.918 Million Tonnes during the corresponding year of 2021. The passenger revenue stood at Rs. 281.08 crore at the end of Dec. 2022 which is 109 per cent more when compared  Rs. 134.60 crore made in Dec. 2021, he added.

The comfort and safety of rail passengers continue to be Indian Railways’ prime focus. The Mysuru Division carried 23.61 million passengers up to Dec. 2022. The punctuality performance of passenger-carrying trains has seen a significant improvement with Mail/Express trains running with more than 98.7 per cent punctuality, he said.

Continuing with the Mysuru Division’s achievement, DRM Rahul Agarwal informed that ‘for passengers convenience the auto announcement system has been commissioned at 20 stations in the Division and double-sided LED GPS clocks have been commissioned at 35 stations for the benefit of public.’

Agarwal said that highest priority was accorded for operational safety and the Division was firmly committed to observing all safety norms/protocols at all levels with zero tolerance for accidents.

“Five Level Crossings in the jurisdiction of the Division have been eliminated by constructing Railway Overbridges (ROBs) or Railway Underbridges (RUBs) and the work is in progress for achieving the target set for the Division this year,” he said.

In the ongoing efforts to raise sectional speeds, the maximum speed was raised to 110 kmph for 119 kms of track and loopline speed was raised from 15 kmph to 30 kmph for 172 kms between Chikjajur-Rayadurga & Hassan-Saklespur section, DRM  said.