Rail freight grows 1.5% in October to 131 million tonnes, shows data

NEW DELHI : In a year of tepid freight traffic, goods ferried via the Indian Railways registered a growth of 1.5 per cent during October to 131 million tonnes (mt), according to railways ministry data. 

In contrast, the railways had achieved a cargo growth of 8.5 per cent in October 2023. 

According to officials, coal traffic on the railway network increased by 4.3 per cent in the previous month. The commodity accounts for 50 per cent of the total freight volumes of the railways, and is expected to fetch the national transporter Rs 91,000 crore in 2024-25, according to government estimates.

The previous month was also the hottest October in over a century. Volumes of containers grew by 7.7 per cent in the previous month, while miscellaneous goods and clinker traffic increased by 7 per cent each.

So far in this financial year (FY25), freight volumes on Indian Railways stand at 906.9 mt, which is merely 2.2 per cent higher than the previous year. 

In the commodity mix, key materials like coal have registered a 6 per cent growth in the current financial year, while iron ore (second largest by volume) traffic has grown by 1.1 per cent.