Railway freight rises 3.5% in Feb; thermal coal volumes increase 8%

Slow freight growth in the second half of FY23 continued to impact railways, with freight volumes in February at 124 million tonnes (mt), just 3.55 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Overall coal volumes in February grew 5.7 per cent, while the same for thermal coal rose 8 per cent, indicating that the Centre started early preparation for summer, when power demand peaks.

Last year, an overload on logistics, coupled with coal shortage, caused a nationwide power crisis. This year, the Centre has plans in the works to avert one. “The cumulative freight loading from April 2022 to February 2023 has been 1,367.49 Mt as against 1,278.84 Mt in 2021-22, an incremental loading of 88.65 Mt, with a growth of 6.93 per cent over the same period last year,” the ministry of railways said.

“Cumulatively, in the first 11 months of the year, Indian Railways has loaded more than 79.69 Mt extra coal to power houses as compared to the same period last year, with a growth of over 15.44 per cent,” the ministry said.

Automobile freight also led the charge for railways in the diversified freight segment. So far in FY23, a total of 5,015 automobile rakes have been loaded, which is 69 per cent higher than the previous year. Almost a million tonnes of more fertilisers have also been transported in February as against last year.

According to sector watchers, the numbers suggest that the railways will comfortably meet its budgeted target of 1475 Mt in the current fiscal year. However, early double-digit growth had the rail industry’s hopes pegged high, which are now simmering after over five months of growth of less than 5 per cent.

Last month, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said freight typically struggles in the last quarter of a fiscal year as a lot of new work gets commissioned in railways, impacting mobility on routes.