Railways earns Rs 1.43 trn from freight in FY22, ferries 1,418 mn tonnes

Coal freight rises 20 per cent as railways achieves highest ever loading

Indian Railways ended the financial year with its highest ever earnings from freight services. The national transporter earned Rs 1.43 trillion in FY22, ferrying 1,418 million tonne (mt) of freight.

Railways' freight revenue in 2020-21 was Rs 1.24 trillion. With 1233 mt loaded in the last fiscal year, railways' annual freight has risen 15 per cent this time. The annual increment of over 180 mt is also the highest recorded in a single year.

Earlier this week, the ministry of railways had shared that it had recorded 1400 mt of freight for the first time ever. Analysts have previously attributed this to a recovery of economic growth along with pent-up demand due to the pandemic.

"The previous best incremental growth in percentage terms was achieved in the year 1981-82 with 12.9 per cent growth. The previous best incremental loading in absolute terms was 66.1 mt achieved more than a decade ago in the year 2005-06,” the Rail Ministry said," the ministry said.

Coal, which accounts for almost half of the railways' total freight, witnessed a growth of 20.5 per cent to 653.3 mt. Raw material for steel, which includes iron ore, grew by 7.3 per cent to 197 mt.

The railways' ambitious target to diversify its freight basket continued to be steady, with 15 mt having been added in its 'balance and other goods' section over the year.

Even as most segments saw increased cargo numbers, fertilizers saw a decline of 8.5 per cent at 49.5 mt. The ministry attributed this to subdued demand on account of high international prices of urea.

As per the Union budget for 2022-23, railways aims to increase its annual freight loading to 1475 mt, with a projected revenue at Rs 1.65 trillion.