New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The government has informed that freight loading increased from 1,233 million tonnes (MT) in 2020-21 to 1,617 MT in 2024-25, making Indian Railways second largest freight carrying Railways in the world.

To keep the freight rate competitive, the freight rates have not been revised since 2018 despite increase in input cost over the years, according to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

“Passenger fares have been rationalised from July 1, 2025 after a gap of more than 5 years. The increase in fares is very low, ranging from half paise per km to two paise per km for premium classes,” said Vaishnaw in replies to questions in Lok Sabha.

Among key measures for affordable passenger fares are no increase in general class up to 500 km and, thereafter, half paisa increase in fare per passenger per km; half paisa increase in fare per passenger per km in Sleeper Class Ordinary and First-Class Ordinary; 01 paisa increase per passenger per km in Non-AC classes in Mail Express; and 02 paisa increase per passenger per km in reserved AC-Classes.

To maintain affordability for low and middle income families, the fares for MST (Monthly Season Ticket) and Suburban travel have not been revised, the minister informed.

Indian Railways has also taken several measures to enhance the freight loading and revenue which includes:

To increase the network capacity, rail network expansion has been taken up in a big way by construction of new lines, multi tracking of existing lines and gauge conversion of existing lines.

“Further as on 01.04.25, there are 431 (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) projects sanctioned,” the minister informed.

Indian Railways has taken up electrification of Railway lines in a mission mode. So far, about 99.1 per cent of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified.

To increase freight carrying capacity, large numbers of IR wagons have been procured and locomotives have been manufactured. During 2014 to 2025, about 2 lakh wagons have been procured and more than 10,000 locomotives have been added for increasing freight loading and mobility.

—IANS

na/