Indian Railways has set fresh records in both passenger and freight operations in fiscal year 2025–26.
The Railways carried 741 crore passengers in FY2025–26, up from 716 crore the previous year, a 3.54 per cent increase that signals steady growth in rail usage across the country. Passenger revenue rose even faster, climbing around 6 per cent to over ₹80,000 crore in FY2025–26 from about ₹75,500 crore in FY2024–25.
Indian Railways also hauled a record 1,670 million tonnes (MT) of cargo in FY2025–26, up 3.25 per cent from the previous year. The number of wagons handled rose to 2,91,86,475 in the same period from 2,79,12,271 a year ago, clicking a 4.56 per cent increase.
The growth was driven by key sectors, elaborated the Railways. Fertilisers traffic jumped 13.49 per cent, while pig iron and finished steel grew 13.11 per cent, as it also hinted at rising demand for farm inputs and continued expansion in the steel and manufacturing sectors. Iron ore movement increased 6.74 per cent to 190.12MT, and cement loading rose 4.74 per cent to 157.17MT.
Across zones, the South Western Railway (SWR) posted the highest freight loading growth at 14.89 per cent, followed by North Central Railway (NCR) at 12.62 per cent, East Coast Railway (ECoR) at 10.42 per cent and West Central Railway (WCR) at 10.06 per cent.
Freight earnings reached about ₹1,77,754 crore in FY2025–26, up 1.44 per cent from ₹1,75,302 crore a year earlier. Iron ore was the single largest revenue contributor at ₹14,600.51 crore, followed by cement (₹13,599 crore), pig iron and finished steel (₹12,181 crore), fertilisers (₹9,039 crore), foodgrains (₹8,312.5 crore) and mineral oil (₹7,249.54 crore).
