The Indian railways reported a modest growth of 3.25% in the freight loading for FY26. Backed by the robust growth in segments like fertilisers, pig iron and finished steel, the railways carried 1,670 million tonnes (MT) of goods in the last financial year as compared to the total loading of 1,617.38 MT in FY25.
Though the growth in freight revenues was tepid at 1.44% to reach Rs 1.78 lakh crore, up from Rs 1.75 lakh crore in FY25.
On the passenger side, the railways reported 3.54% increase in passenger traffic by carrying a total of 7.41 billion, up from 7.16 billion in FY25. The growth in passenger revenues was better at 5.96% to reach Rs 80,000 crore.
“These figures underscore Indian Railways’ expanding role in passenger mobility and its improving financial performance year-on-year,” the official statement said.
Experts said that freight loading growth with relatively lower revenue growth indicates a change in commodity mix, shorter lead distances and competitive freight pricing adopted by railways to capture traffic from road transport.
Revenue Growth
“The strategy currently is to increase volumes and market share, especially with the dedicated freight corridors becoming operational. Passenger revenue has grown faster than passenger numbers mainly due to a higher share of premium trains like Vande Bharat, Tejas and Amrit Bharat and increased AC class travel,” said Lalit Chandra Trivedi, former general manager, East Central Railway.
Economic Survey
The latest economic survey 2025-26 had called for the rationalisation of rail freight rates in order to make it more competitive. The existing high freight rates are not just making the railways less competitive but are also inflating commodity prices and affecting consumer inflation.
“High freight rates, due to cross-subsidisation, distort competition with roads, inflating commodity and consumer prices, as well as logistics costs. Rationalising freight rates could improve revenue buoyancy, incentivise a modal shift of freight from roads to rail,” the economic survey stated.
According to the ministry, the growth in the freight segment has been largely driven by key sectors such as fertilisers (13.49%), pig iron and steel (13.11%), reflecting a rise in demand for agricultural inputs across regions, and the continued expansion of industrial activity, particularly in the steel sector.
Core infrastructure commodities have also played a role in freight growth. For instance, iron ore transportation jumped by 6.7%, and the cement loading grew by 4.7%.
While the cargo movement fell marginally short of the budget estimates of 1,700 MT, the actual passenger traffic surpassed the FY26 target of 7.38 billion.
For the current financial year, the railways has set a target to carry 1,765 MT of goods, and over 7.7 billion passengers.