Snapshot

Touching Bullet Speeds

India has the 4th largest railway system in the world, behind only US, Russia and China.

The Indian Railways consists of a total track length of 126,366 km with 7,335 stations. 5243 km of track length was achieved during 2022-23 as compared to 2909 Kms during 2021-22. Average daily track laying becomes 14.4 kms per day (highest-ever commissioning). The railways operate 13,523 passenger trains and 9,146 freight trains daily. The Indian Railways has loaded 1512 MT during 2022-23 as compared to 1418 MT during FY 2021-22. This is the highest ever loading for IR in a Financial Year. 

  • Vision 2024 has been envisaged to achieve targets of 2024 MT freight loading by 2024.
  • Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project sanctioned at a total cost of $14.27 Bn.
  • The railway sector of India aims to electrify the entire network by 2023 which will lead to annual energy savings of $1.55 Bn.
  • As of Aug 2023, 59,524 km length of Broad-Gauge network has been electrified. With this, Indian Railways is rapidly progressing towards its target of 100% electrification and becoming the largest green railway network in the world.
  • Indian Railways (IR) is rapidly progressing to accomplish Mission 100% Electrification and become the largest green railway network in the world. 6,542 RKMs has been achieved in IR history during 2022-23
  • Indian Railways has commissioned Wi-Fi at 6,089 Railway stations across the country.
  • To achieve its green mission, Indian Railways has solarized more than 1000 stations.
  • Till June'23, Automatic Block Signaling (ABS) has been provided at 3946 Route Km.
  • Kavach has so far been deployed on 1465 Route km (Rkm) and 121 locomotives (including Electric Multiple Unit rakes) on South Central Railway in Telangana (684 Rkm), Andhra Pradesh (66 Rkm), Karnataka (117 Rkm) & Maharashtra (598 Rkm) States.
  • 400 new generation Vande Bharat Trains to be manufactured during the next three years.
  • 100 PM Gati Shakti Cargo terminals for multimodal logistics to be developed during the next three years.
  • During 2014-22, 1544 km (377 km new line, 972 km Gauge conversion and 195 km Doubling) sections, falling fully/partly in Northeastern Region, have been commissioned at an average rate of 193 km per year, which is 190% more than average annual commissioning achieved during 2009-14 (66.6 km per year).

 

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  • Bn

    Annual Estimated Passengers in 2031

  • MT

    Annual Estimated Freight Demand in 2031

  • MT

    Freight Loading by 2024

  • $ Bn

    Revenue from freight traffic

India aims to become Largest green railway network in the world

4th largest rail freight carrier in the world

Single largest employer in India and 8th largest in the world

Industry Scenario

Indian Railways records October monthly freight loading of 129.03 MT in October’23, an an improvement of 8.47% over last year freight loading for the same period. 

Following the Mantra, “Hungry For Cargo”, Indian Railways has made sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business as well as improve the service delivery at competitive prices which has resulted in new traffic coming to railways from both conventional and non-conventional commodity streams. The customer centric approach and work of business development units backed up by agile policy making has helped the Railways breach the 1400 MT Freight Loading mark for 1st time ever in Financial Year-2021-22. Indian Railways has registered highest ever Freight Loading in any Financial year with 1512 MT freight loading in FY 2022-23.

  • The railway sector in India aims to contribute about 1.5% to the country’s GDP by building infrastructure to support 45% of the modal freight share of the economy.
  • Two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), one on the Western route (Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Dadri) and another on the Eastern route (Ludhiana to Dankuni), have been fast-tracked.
  • On cumulative basis from April –Oct 2023, Railways have earned INR 95929.30 Cr against INR 92345.27 Cr over the last year from Freight loading.
  • New Line/ Doubling/ Gauge Conversion: 5243 kms of conversion have been achieved during 2022-23 as against 2909 kms in 2021-22.  The average daily track laying in FY23 comes out to be 14.4 kms per day, which is also the highest ever commissioning. 
  • 785 electric locomotives produced in this FY 2022-23 up to 31st January 2023.
  • As of Sept 2023, 34 Vande Bharat Express and 4 Tejas Express services are being operated by Indian Railways.
  • Currently, a total of 2359 trips of Kisan Rail trains have been operated on 167 routes, wherein nearly 7.9 lakh Tonnes of consignments have been transported.
  • 6427 (98.8% of total stations) Stations have been equipped with Electrical/Electronic Signalling Interlocking System up to 31.05.2023. 
  • During 2022-23, 30 Freight Terminals were created as compared to 21 Freight Terminals in 2021-22.
  • Under the Union Budget 2023, Indian Railways has been allocated a highest ever capital outlay of $29 Bn.
  • The average Freight Train speed has increased to 44.36 kmph during 2021-22 compared to 42.97 kmph during 2020-21 (+3.23 %) (up to 31.12. 2021). National Rail Plan aims to increase share of freight traffic from current 27% to 45% by 2030.

GROWTH DRIVERS

  • Exponential Rise in passenger & freight traffic

    Railway passenger traffic is projected to reach around 12 Bn per year by 2031 and Freight traffic is expected to cross 8,220 Mn Tonnes by 2031

  • Freight shift towards railways

    National Rail Plan aims to increase the modal share of Railways in freight to 45% by 2030 from existing 27%

  • Dedicated freight corridor

    Six high-capacity, high-speed dedicated freight corridors

  • Freight Business Development Portal

    One-stop cargo solution for seamless goods transportation

  • Diamond Quadrilateral network of high-speed rail

    Connecting major metros and growth centers of the country

  • Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan - Self Reliant India

    Special economic and comprehensive package of INR 20 lakh Cr towards promoting manufacturing in India.

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    Gallery

    Nov 01, 2023PM Modi and PM Hasina jointly inaugurate rail and power sector projects between India & Bangladesh
    PM Modi and PM Hasina jointly inaugurate rail and power sector projects between India & Bangladesh
    Nov 01, 2023PM Modi and PM Hasina jointly inaugurate rai…PM Modi and PM Hasina jointly inaugurate rail and power sector projects between India & Bangladesh
    PM Modi flags off nine Vande Bharat Express trains
    Sep 25, 2023PM Modi flags off nine Vande Bharat Express …PM Modi flags off nine Vande Bharat Express trains
    PM Modi dedicates to the Nation important Rail Sector projects in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh
    Sep 15, 2023PM Modi dedicates to the Nation important Ra…PM Modi dedicates to the Nation important Rail Sector projects in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh

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    FAQs

    Frequently
    Asked Questions

    What are PM Gati Shakti Multi-modal Cargo Terminals?

    In order to boost investments from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargos, a new ‘Gati Shakti Multi-modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has been framed. All new as well as under-construction/under-approval Cargo Terminals shall be covered under this policy.
    The policy seeks to promote proliferation of new Cargo Terminals and improve existing Cargo Terminals through investments from industry to accelerate the growth in Railways’ cargo traffic. 
    The salient features of Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs) are as under –

    1. Simplified application and approval process, for quick and hassle-free approvals.
    2. No departmental charges will be levied on the applicant.
    3. No Land License Fees to be charged for the Railway land used for connectivity.
    4. No cost of commercial staff to be charged
    5. All common-user traffic facilities at the serving station to be constructed and maintained by Railway
    6. For Terminals giving 1 MT or more outward traffic, cost of mid-section Block Hut/ Block station to be reimbursed as 10% freight rebate.
    7. Maintenance of all assets (track, signalling, OHE) by Railway at its own cost, excluding the yard and loading/unloading lines
    8. Railway will reserve the right to grant connectivity to another Terminal(s) from such portions of track being maintained by Railway

    Union Budget 2022-23 has announced the target to set up 100 GCTs within the next three financial years.
     

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    What is National Rail Plan 2030?

    Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) for India – 2030. The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030.  The NRP is aimed to formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%. The objective of the Plan is to create capacity ahead of demand, which in turn would also cater to future growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways to 45% in freight traffic and to continue to sustain it. 
    The key objectives of the National Rail Plan are:  

    • Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45% by 2030
    • Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph
    • As part of the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as 100% electrification, multi-tracking of congested routes, upgradation of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.
    • Identify new Dedicated Freight Corridors.
    • Identify new High Speed Rail Corridors.
    • Assess rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
    • Assess Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
    • Assess the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
    • Sustained involvement of the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development/operations of track infrastructure etc.

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    How much FDI is allowed under Metro sector?

    Up to 100% FDI is permitted for Railway Infrastructure sector without any govt. approval. You can file your FDI application online along with supporting documents at Foreign investment facilitation portal.

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    What is the purpose of SFOORTI?

    The Ministry of Railways, Government of India, has launched the Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI) application to optimise freight operations and manage traffic flows.

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    What is R3i policy?

    The policy aims to attract private sector participation in rail connectivity projects to create additional rail transport capacity. The policy allows for 4 models: 
    a) Cost Sharing-Freight Rebate.
    b) Full Contribution- Apportioned Earnings.
    c) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). 
    d) Private Line.

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