Indian Railways is on a roll with freight revenues hitting a new high in February, up almost 3% year-on-year to ₹14,571.99 crore. This beats last February’s ₹14,151.96 crore, as per official figures unveiled Friday. The numbers highlight the railway network’s resilience and efficiency in hauling goods across India.
Volume-wise, freight loaded jumped 3.96% to 137.72 MT from 132.48 MT. Transport output in NTKM terms advanced 4.18% to 76,007 million, surpassing the prior year’s 72,955 million. These metrics signal deeper penetration into industrial supply chains.
Coal remained the powerhouse, but iron ore stole the spotlight with daily loadings soaring 27.6% to 0.675 MT. Finished steel climbed 20.8% to 0.343 MT, and steel plant raw materials (sans iron ore) skyrocketed 46.9% to 0.141 MT. Fertilizers added 10.2% to reach 0.184 MT, while mineral oils and container EXIM grew 17.8%.
Major commodities showed consistent monthly gains. Container segments performed well: imports up 5.6%, domestic by 2.3%. Over April 2025-February 2026, Railways moved 1,503.8 MT of freight—3.28% more than last year’s 1,456.07 MT. Revenues totaled ₹1.61 lakh crore, with NTKM at 840,000 million, up 1.62%.
As India pushes for multimodal logistics, these figures bolster confidence in rail’s competitive edge over roads. Upcoming dedicated freight corridors promise even more capacity, potentially accelerating this momentum into the next fiscal.