Indian Railways plans to buy 1,00,000 extra wagons over the next three years in response to increased demand for coal freight and an ambitious attempt to diversify its freight basket. According to a senior Ministry of Railways official, the procurement plan will primarily consist of BOX N wagons, which are used to transport coal. Indian Railways recently announced a large procurement for wagons costing Rs. 35,000 crore, which had been in the works since 2018.
“Our budget estimates for freight increase were conservative. With the encouraging freight numbers in this financial year, we want to attain higher numbers both in this year and in the medium-term,” the official added.
According to the budget, railways aims to increase its annual freight loading to 1475 mt, with a projected revenue at Rs 1.65 trillion in 2022-23. Under the National Rail Plan (NRP), the Centre wants to significantly increase the national transporter’s freight numbers, along with its modal freight share to 45 per cent by 2030. As per government estimates, consolidated demand for freight will be over 6300 million tonne (mt) by 2026 and 8220 mt by 2031.
