Indian Railways October dashboard: Freight loading climbs 2.3% year-on-year; highest-ever monthly freight earnings recorded
Indian Railways ended October on a strong note, reporting its highest monthly freight revenue to date. The national transporter generated Rs 14,216.4 crore in freight earnings for the month, supported by a rise in cargo volumes and a wider mix of commodities being transported, according to ET.Freight loading in October reached 133.9 million tonnes (mt), marking a 2.3% year-on-year increase. The growth came largely from non-coal commodities. Pig iron and finished steel shipments rose 18.4%, iron ore by 4.8%, fertilisers by 27.8%, containers by 5.7% and “Balance Other Goods” by 10.8%.While coal volumes slipped 2.5% in October to 65.9 mt, the key commodity held steady over the financial year so far and remains 0.2% higher cumulatively at 462.8 mt. Overall freight loading for April–October touched 935.1 mt, up 3.1% from a year ago, bringing cumulative earnings to Rs 1,00,920 crore.A senior official said the mix of goods being transported is changing visibly. “Growth in containers, and balance other goods reflects a healthy diversification of railway freight traffic,” the official told ET.The month’s performance coincided with Indian Railways rolling out scheduled, commodity-focused cargo services. Introduced in September, these services operate on fixed timetables and are designed to link major production hubs with consumption centres, particularly in North India.Among the services now operational:
- Annapurna Service — food grains from Ludhiana to Varanasi. Distance: 704 km. Average transit time: 17 hours.
- Gati-Vahan Service — automobiles from Farrukhnagar (Haryana) to Lucknow. Distance: 557 km. Transit time cut to 28 hours, from 70 hours earlier.
- Niryaat Cargo Service — container movement from Garhi to Mundra Port. Distance: 1,061 km. Transit time: 32 hours.
- Anantnag Cement Cargo Service — cement from Roopnagar to Anantnag. Distance: 586 km. Transit time: 31 hours.
These services were launched after consultations with freight stakeholders, including the Food Corporation of India, automobile firms, container train operators and neighbouring railway zones. According to an earlier official statement cited by ET, “Initially introduced as trial services, these time-tabled cargo trains have now stabilised and are operating efficiently.”Alongside these changes, Indian Railways has begun allowing select container train operators to run on fixed schedules to ensure timely movement of containerised cargo. Officials said discussions are underway with private operators to start a scheduled export-import (EXIM) service between Tughlakabad Inland Container Depot (ICD) and the Adani Mundra Port.A regular container service from Tughlakabad ICD to Kolkata, routed via Agra and Kanpur and operated by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), started on October 1.
