Snapshot
Touching bullet speeds
India has the fourth-largest railway system in the world, behind only US, Russia and China.
The Indian rail network has 123,542 km of total tracks over a 67,415 km route and about 7,300 stations. The railways run close to 13,000 passenger trains that carry over 23 mn passengers daily. The Indian Railways transported over 109.68MT of freight in November 2020.
Indian Railways is the single largest employer in India and eighth largest in the world; employing close to 1.4 mn people.
- Vision 2024 has been envisaged to achieve targets of 2024 MT freight loading by 2024
- Indian Railways envisages a prospective investment of $190 bn in the next 5 years
- Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project sanctioned at a total cost of $15 bn
- Railway Electrification works completed on a total of 5,782 Route kms during the year
100% FDI allowed in railway infrastructure under the automatic route.
For further details, please refer FDI Policy
- mn
Estimated Passengers in 2031
- MT
Estimated Freight Demand in 2031
- MT
Freight Loading by 2024
- $ bn
Revenue from freight traffic (2020)

4th largest railway system in the world

4th largest rail freight carrier in the world

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

- Industry Scenario
- FOREIGN INVESTMENT
- INDUSTRY TRENDS
- POLICIES & SCHEMES
Industry Scenario
The Indian Railways' freight revenues in 2020 were worth $11.8 bn. Coal and Coke had the highest freight revenue during this period.
Indian Railways aspires to add 1.5% to the country’s GDP by building infrastructure to support 40% 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.
The Indian Railways is looking to electrify the entire network by 2025 which will lead to energy savings of $1.55 bn.
India Railways is focused on:
- 3,360 km dedicated freight corridors by June 2022
- 700 stations to be fed with solar power in the medium term
- The Ministry of Railways has decided to redevelop 90 railway stations into world-class transit hubs
- Creating private investments worth $4 bn through Public-Private Partnerships
- 100% electrification of Broad-Gauge routes to be completed by December, 2023
GROWTH DRIVERS
Rising passenger & freight traffic
Increasing urbanization, rising incomes (both rural and urban), growing industrialization across the country along with private sector participation
Increasing freight traffic
Growing industrialization across the country
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 crores towards promoting manufacturing in India

