Freight traffic and railway's earnings from it upward: Goyal

Freight traffic and the railways' earning from it have shown an upward trend over the past three years, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament Wednesday.

Replying to a question in Lok Sabha, Goyal said that freight loading in 2018-2019 was 1,221.39 million tonnes and earnings was Rs 1.27 lakh crore.

In 2017-2018, the railways loaded 1159.55 metric tonne goods, earning Rs 1.17 lakh crore from it. The previous fiscal, the loading was 1106.15 metric tonne, while earnings was Rs 1.04 lakh crore, the minister said.

He said focused investments for augmenting transportation capacities of the Indian Railways on major freight routes are being undertaken to facilitate higher freight volumes.

"Freight incentive schemes such as Traditional Empty Flow Direction (TEFD) and Long Term Tariff Contract (LTTC) have been formulated," he said, listing the measures taken by the railways to promote freight traffic.

He also said that private wagon investment schemes such as General Purpose Wagon Investment Scheme (GPWIS), Liberalised Wagon Investment Scheme (LWIS), Special Freight Train Operator (SFTO), and Automobiles Freight Train Operator (AFTO) have been formulated for facilitating a long term synergy between the railways and freight customers.