Railway freight operations have continued to sustain pace, with 112.25 MT of loading in February, up 10% from the year ago. Freight earnings stood at Rs 11,096.89 crore, up 7.7% more than February 2020.
Improvement in the speed of freight trains and a quantity of concessions/discounts provided by IR to make freight movement appealing have provided a increase to IR’s freight functionality. The typical speed of freight trains in February 2021 was 46.09 kmph against 23.01 kmph a year ago.
The National Rail Plan has projected that the share of rail in freight movement across the nation will rise to 44% by 2051 — a rise of 16% from 28% at present. This will be enabled by a rise in the typical speed of freight trains, commissioning of committed freight corridors and discounts on specific products.