In light of Western Railway's impressive achievement of freight loading of over 100 million tonnes and revenue of over Rs. 14000 crore for the first time, a freight customers' meet was held at SAMVAD on 24th March 2023. The meeting was presided over by Ashok Kumar Misra - General Manager of Western Railway. On this occasion, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Principal Chief Operations Manager and other Principal Heads of Departments of Western Railway were also present, while Divisional Railway Managers with Senior Divisional Commercial Managers and Senior Divisional Operating Managers were present through video conference from their Divisional headquarters.
According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, on this occasion GM Misra thanked all the esteemed freight customers for their continued support due to which Western Railway was able to cross 100 MT in loading and 14000 crores in revenue. He requested the customers to furnish the expected growth in their production and their requirement for moving the traffic on rail during the next financial year, to enable the railways to offer the best services. GM assured them that the traffic shall be moved at a faster pace due to gauge conversion and doubling projects extensively done by Western Railway on key routes.
At the outset, Pravin Parmar, Principal Chief Commercial Manager of WR welcomed all the participants and apprised them of the Goods Revenue and Loading. He requested all the esteemed customers to contribute through offering cargo to Railways and assured to extend a supportive hand at all times. A presentation highlighting the record-breaking loading and revenue over Western Railway and the comparison to the other Zones was presented on this occasion. Prakash Butani, Additional General Manager and Chittaranjan Swain, Principal Chief Operations Manager also addressed the gathering. They assured the stakeholders that WR will look in to all suggestions given by them and will extend all possible support to facilitate maximum loading in coming year.
Thakur further stated that customers from various industries praised and congratulated Western Railway's outstanding performance in freight loading and revenue and also for the excellent support in timely supply of rakes. Some suggestions were also given by customers to improve loading further in days ahead. The meeting was incredibly interactive, with the customers projecting their traffic requirements for the next financial year
Rajneesh Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Manager (FM) proposed the vote of thanks to all participants for sparing their valuable time and giving suggestions and feedback on services provided by Western Railway.
It is pertinent to mention that this was the first physical meet held after two years due to COVID Protocol. About 30 representatives of various industries dealing with Railways participated in the meeting, including major customers like Adani Port, Reliance Industries, Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce, IFFCO, GNFC, Ultratech cement, Wonder cement, CTA Logistics, KRIBHCO, TCL, CONCOR etc.
