Railways reports Rs 14,642 cr in earnings from freight loads in May 2023

Coal made up the highest amount of freight loaded in May 2023, followed by iron ore and cement

The Ministry of Railways has reported an earning of Rs 14642 crore from freight loading in May 2023, a four per cent increase compared to last year at Rs 14,084 crore.

The freight loading amount reported in May 2023 is also two per cent more than last year at 134 million tonnes (mt). It was 131 mt last year.

The freight load of April and May combined in 2023 was reportedly 260.28 mt. This is three per cent more than the loading of 253.48 mt recorded during the same period last year.

The breakdown of the freight load in May 2023 is the following:

• 65.89 mt in coal
• 15.23 mt in iron ore
• 13.20 mt in cement
• 6.79 mt in containers
• 4.89 mt in fertiliser
• 4.85 mt in food grains
• 4.23 mt in mineral oil

Other goods made up 10.96 mt.

As reported by Business Standard in January, the cumulative amount of goods transported in the financial year 2022-23 was 1109.38 mt against last year’s loading of 1029.96 mt. The overall growth of Indian Railways was eight per cent with an earning of Rs 1.2 trillion till December 2022  from freight, marking a growth of 16 per cent year-on-year.

The recent reports from Indian Railways marks a strong year ahead for the financial year 2023-24 and brings it a step closer to meeting the government's goal of increasing the national transporter’s freight numbers and its modal freight share to 45 per cent by 2030.

This would go in line with the government's prediction that the consolidated demand for freight will be over 6,300 mt by 2026 and 8220 mt by 2031.