Indian Railways loaded 1591 million tonnes (MT) freight during financial year 2023-24 up from 1512 MT in the preceding fiscal. According to officials aware of the development, with 79 MT incremental loading, the national transported clocked the highest ever loading for Indian Railways in a fiscal.
Records of railway electrification, new lines, and track replacement were also made during the year under review. The Indian Railways electrified 7188 Route Kilometers (rkm), laid new lines at 14.5 kms per day, and replaced 5950 Kms of tracks.
Within goods loading, the Railways ferried 787.61 MT of Coal, 180.95 MT of Iron ore, 153.80 MT of Cement, and 114.36 MT as Balance Other Goods.
Officials said Railway tracks of 7188 Route Kms have been electrified in fiscal 2023-24, up from 6565 RKMs in the preceding financial year. “Since 2014-15, Indian Railways has completed electrification of about 40,000 RKM on Broad gauge (BG) network. There is substantial jump in electrification from about 1.42 Km/day between 2004-14 to about 19.6 Km/day in 2023-24,” a senior official said.
The Indian Railways also adopts Automatic Block Signaling for increasing line capacity to run more trains on existing High Density Routes. During 2023-24, 582 Kms tracks were upgraded with automatic signaling, up from 530 Kms during 2022-23.