Indian Railways, which earns two-thirds of its revenue from freight, wants to go beyond its mainstay coal to other commodities such as iron ore and steel, Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohammad Jamshed revealed. In the last financial year, the demand from core sectors such as cement, (imported) fertiliser, food grains and coal, which contribute half the freight traffic, had reduced.
He said the Railways will be “naive if we are totally dependent on coal loading, which is currently at 50 percent” and it’s unlikely to bring in additional incremental traffic to the extent the national carrier would want. “We have held round-table negotiations with other customers for moving beyond coal.” As freight revenues fell in the year ended March, the Railways introduced many reforms and lowered rates to stem the decline, he said.
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