Railways’ freight earnings down 11% in July over last year, month-on-month loading picking up

New Delhi: Indian Railways’ freight revenue was down 11% in July over the same period last year, even though monthly loading has improved a notch.

The railways loaded total freight of 95.18 million tonne, 1.6 million tonne higher than in June, official data showed.

However, it was 4.6% less than the same period last year.


Revenue on account of goods moved improved to Rs 8,969.58 crore in July, compared to Rs 8,829.69 crore in June.

Freight revenue in July 2019 was higher, at Rs 10,030.12 crore.

The national transporter’s freight revenues had declined by nearly one-third at the end of the first quarter compared to the corresponding quarter last year, due to the Covid-19 induced slowdown of the economy.

In the ongoing financial year, between April and July so far, earnings from the freight segment declined 26.4% year-on-year to Rs 31,235.65 crore.

Volumes during the same period were down 17.30% at 336.74 million tonne.

Earnings from coal, which is a significant share of the Railways’ freight basket, declined to Rs 12,773.12 crore between April and July, compared to Rs 21,457.16 crore during the same time last year.

Earnings from food grains at Rs 3,441.75 crore, however, registered positive growth over the same period last year, when it was Rs 2,354.33 crore.

While it is registering month-on-month improvement in freight loading, the railways has set itself an ambitious target of improving freight revenues by more than 50% from last year.

The railway ministry has appointed a business development team to see how freight revenue can be increased.

Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said last month that it was also undertaking freight rationalisation to improve earnings.