Agile policy helped increase freight earnings by Rs 2,706 cr: Railways

The Indian Railways achieved freight loading of 758.2 MT between April and September as against the 736.68 MT recorded in the corresponding period last year, which is an improvement of 21.52 MT.

"Railways have earned Rs 81,697 crore against Rs 78,991 crore over the last year, which is an improvement of approximately Rs 2,706 crore as compared to the same period of the last year," the railway ministry said in a statement.

"During the month of September 2023, originating freight loading of 123.53 MT has been achieved against loading of 115.8 MT in September 2022, which is an improvement of approximately 6.67 per cent over the last year," it added.

The increase in freight loading has translated into an increase in the railways' revenue as it achieved freight revenue of Rs 12,956.95 crore in September 2023 as against the Rs 12,332.7 crore freight earnings in September 2022, thereby showing an improvement of about 5.06 per cent.

"Indian Railways achieved loading of 59.7 MT in coal, 14.29 MT in iron ore, 5.78 MT in pig iron and finished steel, 6.25 MT in cement (excluding clinker), 4.89 MT in clinker, 4.54 MT in foodgrains, 4.23 MT in fertilisers, 4 MT in mineral oil, 7.28 MT in containers and 10.1 MT in balance other goods during September 2023," the ministry said.

"Following the mantra, 'Hungry For Cargo', IR has made sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business as well as improve the service delivery at competitive prices," it added.

The railways has claimed that a customer-centric approach and the work of business development units backed up by agile policy making have helped it towards this significant achievement.