As the backbone of India’s transport and logistics network, Indian Railways continued to impress in FY26 with solid operational and financial results, propelled by record freight throughput and consistent increases in passenger traffic. As a result of continued demand for rail-based mobility, passenger traffic increased 3.54% year-on-year to 741 crore in FY26 from 716 crore in FY25. The corresponding 5.96 percent rise in passenger income to almost ₹80,000 crore from ₹75,500 crore in FY25 suggests better monetisation and higher ridership across all segments.
Loading of goods hit a record high of 1,670 million metric tonnes (MT), up 3.25% from the previous year. Along with a 4.56% rise to 29.18 million waggons handled, operational efficiency and capacity utilisation were both highlighted. Key industries, such as fertilisers (13.49% growth) and pig iron and completed steel (13.11% growth), accounted for the vast majority of the freight growth, suggesting robust industrial activity and agricultural demand. Cement loading increased 4.74 percent to 157.17 MT and iron ore transport increased 6.74 percent to 190.12 MT, both of which are core infrastructure commodities that have been trending upwards.
Numerous zones recorded rises in the double digits, indicating that freight growth was still spread out among different regions. North Central Railway(12.62%), South Western Railway(14.89%), East Coast Railway(10.42%), and West Central Railway (10.06%) followed in order of growth. Positive growth was also documented in other zones, indicating that the expansion across the network was balanced.
In FY26, goods earnings were 1.44 percent more than the previous year, amounting to 1.78 lakh crore. At ₹14,600 crore, iron ore was still the top earner, followed by cement at ₹13,599 crore, pig iron and steel at ₹12,181 crore, fertilisers at ₹9,039 crore, food grains at ₹8,312 crore, and mineral oil at ₹7,249 crore.
