Railways beats its previous record, carries 119.79 mn tonnes freight in January

Indian Railways has carried 119.79 million tonnes of freight in January, its highest ever in a month, beating its previous record of 119.74 million tonnes in March 2019.

Freight loading figures for the last few months have been crossing last year’s figures for corresponding months and the cumulative freight loading figure this year is expected to surpass last year’s figure, a statement by the ministry said.

According to statistics till February 8, Indian Railways loading was 30.54 million tonnes — including 13.61 MT of coal, 4.15 MT of iron ore, 1.04 MT of foodgrains, 1.03 MT of fertilizers, 0.96 MT of mineral oil and 1.97 MT of cement (excluding clinker).

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A number of concessions and discounts are also being offered by Indian Railways to make freight movement very attractive.

“Also, to attract new business and incentivise other existing clients, the Ministry of Railways has held meetings with the top leadership of iron and steel, cement, power, coal, automobiles and logistics service providers,” the ministry said.

It added that the business development units at zonal and divisional levels and a near doubling of the freight speed are contributing to sustainable growth momentum.

The achievement in freight loading segment comes at a time when the Railways’ passenger segment is still recovering from the Covid-19 blow due to which its services were completely suspended.