Parliament Question: Freight Earnings of Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4013 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.08.2026 FREIGHT EARNINGS OF RAILWAYS 4013. ADV DEAN KURIAKOSE: SHRI BALWANT BASWANT WANKHADE: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the total earnings of Railways during 2019-20 along with freight earnings for each year and the percentage share of freight earnings in total earnings, year-wise; (b) the details of freight loading by Railways during 2019-20, year-wise; (c) whether the Government is on track to meet the National Rail Plan target of increasing freight traffic from 27% to 45% by 2030 and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (d) whether the Government is considering to introduce unified/fixed freight rates for commodities transported by Railways and if so, details thereof; and (e) whether the Government has assessed the declining competitiveness of railway freight transport compared to road transport and if so, the measure taken to address the same? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) The details of the gross revenue of Indian Railways, freight revenue, the percentage share of freight revenue in the gross revenue, and freight loading for the period from 2019-20 to 2025-26 is detailed as under: Gross Revenue Freight Revenue Freight loading Year (₹ in crore) (₹ in crore) (in Million Tonnes) 2019-20 1,74,661 1,13,488 1,210 § Page 1 of 72020-21* 1,40,516 1,17,232 1,233 2021-22* 1,91,278 1,41,096 1,418 2022-23 2,40,137 1,62,263 1,512 2023-24 2,55,366 1,68,293 1,591 2024-25 2,65,004 1,71,163 1,617 2025-26 2,73,444 1,73,450 1,670 (Prov.) *Covid Year The freight loading of Indian Railways has increased to 1,670 MT in 2025- 26 thus IR has become the second largest freight carrying Railways in the world. To create competitive and future ready transport system, Indian Railways aims to formulate strategies based on both operation capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase railway modal share in freight. The rail infrastructure augmentation plan inter-alia focuses on the network Page 2 of 7capacity enhancement, removal of bottlenecks, increasing average speed of trains, reduction in cargo transit time and cost etc. Budget allocation and Network Expansion: The Budget allocation has been increased from ₹29,055 crore in 2013-14 to ₹2,78,030 crore in 2026-27. Capacity enhancement of railway network has been taken up by Indian Railways in a big way during last 12 years. The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- New track Period Average commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 7,599 Km 4.2 Km/day 2014-26 36,429 Km 8.32 Km/day (nearly 2 times) As on 01.04.2026, across Indian Railways, 514 Railway infrastructure projects (169 New Line, 29 Gauge Conversion and 316 Doubling) of total length 40,000 Km, costing approx. ₹ 8.31 lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Total Length Total No of Length Commissioned Expenditure Category Projects NL/GC/DL till Mar'26 upto Mar'26 (km) (Km) (₹. in crore) New lines 169 16,634 3,361 1,57,572 Gauge 29 3,987 3,045 24,227 conversion Doubling 316 19,379 6,177 1,23,454 TOTAL 514 40,000 12,583 3,05,253 Dedicated Freight Corridor: Ministry of Railways had taken up the construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Page 3 of 7Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km). The work on both EDFC and WDFC has been completed and commissioned. On average, about 443 trains are operated per day on DFCs. The Dedicated Freight Corridors have demonstrated robust operational performance. Freight volumes have steadily increased, with higher average speeds, faster turnarounds, and enhanced reliability. DFC has contributed to creating additional paths on the conventional network by diverting freight traffic to EDFC and WDFC. As a result, Railways have been able to run additional goods and coaching services over its network. The Dedicated Freight Corridor project is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of rail transport by enabling cost-effective, efficient and sustainable freight movement across the country. It is envisaged to facilitate a gradual modal shift of long-haul bulk commodities, container traffic and industrial freight from road to rail, thereby reducing overall logistics costs, improving supply chain efficiency and supporting economic growth. Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project has positive impact on transportation and logistics sector as it enabled enhanced movement of Double Stack Container (DSC) trains, higher axle load trains, faster access of northern hinterland by Western Ports and development of new terminals/linkages with industries along the DFC. The Eastern DFC mostly caters to mineral traffic from Eastern India. These developments enabled reduction in logistic cost. Page 4 of 7A new Dedicated Freight Corridor connecting Dankuni in East to Surat in West has been announced in the Union Budget 2026. The work of preparation/updation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this corridor has been taken up. Railway Electrification: Electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.6% of the Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified. The electrification in the remaining network has been taken up. Electrification carried out during 2014-26 and before 2014 is as under: Period Route Kilometer Before 2014 (about 60 years) 21,801 2014-26 48,072 Further, all new line/multi-tracking projects are being sanctioned and constructed with electrification. Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminals: In order to boost investment from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargos, 'Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has been launched. GCTs are being developed by private players, and can be developed on non- Railway land or fully / partially on Railway land. The location of GCTs is being decided on the basis of demand from industry and potential of Cargo traffic. So far, 142 GCTs have been commissioned and further, In-principle approvals (IPAs) for 310 more GCT proposals have been awarded. The 142 commissioned GCTs have an estimated freight handling capacity of 224 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The policy has mobilized private investment of approximately ₹10,000 crore through these GCTs. Freight handled at these GCTs during 2025-26 is 146 MT. Page 5 of 7Besides, Ministry of Railways has schemes to attract private sector by investing in wagons including the commodity focused specialized wagons such as wagons for cement, oil, steel, fly-ash etc. So far, around 269 rakes of special purpose wagons and 397 rakes of general-purpose wagons are operational, which are expected to improve modal share in commodities like bulk cement, fly-ash, steel products, iron ores and coal etc. Besides, there is a separate scheme for transportation of automobiles under which around 54 rakes owned by private entities are operational. Commercial Policy Initiatives: Indian Railways freight rate are notified under a commodity based tariff structure based on certain principles like cost of service, value of service, competition from other modes of transport, affordability, socio-economic considerations, transportation characteristics of commodities etc. Ministry of Railways has undertaken a number of initiatives in rationalization of rate structure of certain commodities such as Salt, Bulk Cement in tank container, Automobiles, Foodgrains, Flour & Pulses, Fertilizers, Fly Ash/Bed Ash, and Petroleum Products & Gases in wagons by introduction of a per tonne-kilometre rate for wagons and a GTKM-based freight rate for the containerized transportation. In addition, measures have also been taken with the objective to enhance freight loading and earnings by improving modal share by rail, such as:  Introduction of telescopic rate for transportation of domestic coal in Rail– Sea–Rail (RSR) mode.  Introduction of GTKM-based Haulage Rate for Bulk Cement in Tank Containers, for Salt, Food grain, Fertilizer and Fly Ash traffic in container.  Introduction of per tonne-kilometre based freight rate for Salt, Food grain, fertilizer, POL and Fly Ash traffic in General Purpose Wagon. Page 6 of 7 Introduction of freight rate structure on per wagon- kilometre based haulage rate for Double Stack, Single Stack and Empty Haulage for Automobile traffic.  Policy for Cargo Aggregation- Cargo Aggregator Transportation Product.  Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Directions.  Station to Station Rates Policy.  Merry-Go- Round System.  Policy of concession on Short lead traffic.  Exemption on levy of Busy Season Charge on Bamboo Traffic in North Eastern Region.  Discount on empty haulage of containers transporting Chemical Gypsum and Tiles traffic to originating station/ cluster.  Notification of Lean season for Covered wagons (BCN group) & Open wagons for FY 2026-27.  Mini Rakes of container trains. ***** Page 7 of 7