Indian Railways reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development on World Environment Day

NEW DELHI : Every time you choose to travel by train, you are not just choosing comfort or convenience — you are choosing a cleaner, greener Bharat. More than 700 crore people chose to travel in Indian Railways last year. It’s our lifeline, and a green promise for tomorrow.

Indian Railways is helping the country move closer to the Panchamrit goals set by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi — net zero by 2070. It is enabling this through a multi-pronged approach: By shifting traffic from road to rail and powering operations with cleaner, greener energy sources. Together, these moves are helping India decarbonise its economy at scale.

In 2013-14, Indian Railways carried about 1,055 million tonnes of cargo. This has increased to 1,617 million tonnes in 2024-25, making our railway the second-largest cargo-carrying railway in the world. Using the computations done by experts, this shift of cargo from road to rail has helped our country save over 143 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. That’s like planting 121 crore trees.

Transporting goods by rail costs nearly half of what it does by road. This means big savings, not just for businesses, but for the entire economy. This shift has helped save Rs 3.2 lakh crore in logistics costs over

the past decade. Railways are also much cleaner, releasing 90 per cent less carbon dioxide than trucks. That’s less smoke in our skies and cleaner air for us. This road-to-rail transition has saved us 2,857 crore litres of diesel, roughly translating to savings of Rs 2 lakh crore in fuel costs.