Railways on track to record best-ever freight business, track laying: Govt

The Ministry of Railways on Friday said it is on track to register its best-ever performance in terms of freight loading, overall revenue collection and track laying in the financial year 2023-24.

In a press statement, the ministry said, “As per the preliminary data, IR (Indian Railways) has crossed an originating freight loading of 1500 MT today on 15th March, 2024. Previously, IR had achieved the best ever freight loading of 1512 MT during FY 2022-23.

“During FY 2023-24, total revenue of Indian Railways stands at Rs 2.40 lakh crore as on date. Last year on 15th March, total revenue was Rs 2.23 lakh crore, an increment of Rs 17,000 crore. Total expenditure of Indian Railways stands at Rs 2.26 lakh crore in FY 2023-24,” it stated.

According to the ministry, the number of passengers during FY 2023-24 stood at 648 crore, an increment of 52 crore compared to the figures of the same period of last year.

Last year, the total number of passengers travelled was 596 crore, it said.

So far as new track laying record is concerned, the ministry said that in this financial year as on date, Indian Railways has laid 5,100 km of new tracks.

“In this FY, the average daily track (laid) comes out to be more than 14 km,” it added.