Parliament Question: Freight Target, 2030

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1832 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025 FREIGHT TARGET, 2030 1832. SHRI RAJA RAM SINGH: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the manner in which the Government justify the stagnation in non-coal freight, declining revenue growth and underwhelming container performance in light of the stated 3000 MT freight target by 2030; (b) whether sectors like cement, foodgrains have shown a declining trend despite announcing diversification, If so, the reasons therefor; (c) the details of urgent corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government to address poor uptake of concessions like TEFD and STS falling from Rs.5,076 crore in Financial Year 2022 to Rs.1,733 crore in Financial Year 2025; (d) whether out of 230 proposed Gati Shakti Terminals only 105 are operational, if so, the reasons therefor and the timeline, if any fixed for operations of the rest; (e) the manner in which the Government to meet the 3,000 MT goal in view of the fact that new DFC's is still at DPR stage; and (f) the details thereof including the DPRs of the projects? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to(f): Indian Railways has achieved steady growth in coal as well non-coalfreight. During the last 5 years from 2019-20 to 2024-25, the compound annual growth rate for overall freight revenue as well as non-coal freight loading and container services loading is as below: Freight revenue growth rate 8.6% Non-coal freight volume growth rate 5.0% Container services Loading growth 7.7% rate Cement loading 5.6% Food grains 5.8% By availing concessions for loading in empty flow direction, a number of Traditional Empty Flow Direction routes have been converted into loaded routes. Indian Railway has taken multi-pronged strategy to promote the freight segment through freight-rate rationalization and adoption of various incentive schemes. Few initiatives taken are as under: • Diversification of freight basket, • Telescopic rate benefit to Domestic Coal movement in Rail-Sea-Rail (RSR) mode, • Reclassification of commodities-Soda Ash Dense/Light, etc. • Liberalized Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Directions, • Rationalization of Station-to-Station Rates Policy, • Rationalization of Merry-Go-Round, • Concession in Short Lead Traffic, • Discount in freight to Fly Ash/Bed Ash traffic booked in Open/flat Stock & covered wagons,• Diversification of commodities for carriage at Haulage rate per TEU in container, • Rationalized Haulage rate for Bulk Cement in container, • Promotion of running Mini rake of containers, • Rationalization of Haulage rate of Automobile traffic, • Review of Busy Season charge, • Policy for Cargo Aggregation-Cargo Aggregator Transportation Product, • Exemption of weighment for empty container, Automobiles, etc. So far, 112 new Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal (GCT) have been commissioned in a short span of time since policy launch in Dec 2021. A large number of other GCTs proposals are already approved by the respective Zonal Railways, and the projects are in various stages of execution/construction and expected to be completed within the timeframe prescribed under the policy. Further, Indian Railways has taken a number of steps to increase the freight loading and modal share. Some of these are as under: 1. Ensuring increased availability of rakes/wagons against demand. 2. Increasing the loadability for carrying additional traffic per wagon. Length of freight trains has also been increased to increase throughput per train. 3. Improving infrastructure by multi tracking and automatic signaling of busy routes and adding bypasses on busy junctions. 4. Use of Information Technology in freight operations to improve monitoring and utilization of assets. 5. Induction of higher horsepower locomotives.6. Induction of higher capacity and high-speed wagons. 7. Improvement in maintenance practices of wagons and locomotives resulting in increased availability of loco and rolling stock for traffic use. 8. Improvement in track and signaling to carry higher volume of traffic. 9. Training staff and officers to adopt the new technology and management practices. The Ministry of Railways has taken up construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km). Out of total 2843 Km, 2741 Route Km (96.4%) has been commissioned and operational. The work in balance section has been taken up. To expand the railway network to increase freight loading capacity and run more passenger and freight trains, the network expansion work has been taken up in a big way. As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx. Rs 6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned, out of which, 12,769 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. Rs 2.91 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as below:-Total Length Total Exp. Length Commissioned till Category No. of up to NL/GC/DL Mar’25 Projects Mar'25 (in Km) (in Km) (Rs in Cr) New Lines 154 16,142 3,036 1,45,318 Gauge 33 4,180 2,997 22,753 Conversion Doubling / 244 15,644 6,736 1,22,858 Multi tracking Total 431 35,966 12,769 2,90,929 Further, to increase the capacity of the rail network, in last 3 years (2022- 23, 2023-24, 2024- 25) and current FY, 933 No. Surveys (299 New line,14 Gauge Conversion and 620 Doubling) of total length 65,488 km have been sanctioned across Indian Railways for preparation of Detailed Project Reports. The sanctioning of the project requires consultation with various stakeholders including State Governments and necessary approvals viz. appraisal of NITI Aayog, Ministry of Finance etc. The details of commissioning / laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- Period New Track Commissioned Average Commissioning of new tracks 2009-14 7,599 Km 1520 km/yr 2014-25 34,428 km 3130 km/yr (more than 2 times)Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project/s site, number of working months in a year for particular project site etc. All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s. Various steps taken by the Government for speedy approval and implementation of Railway projects include (i) setting up of Gati Shakti units (ii) prioritization of projects (iii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iv) delegation of powers at field level (v) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels, and (vi) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects. This has led to a substantial increase in rate of commissioning since 2014. *****