Indian Railways has fired the starting pistol on an ambitious race: move 1,702.5 million tonnes of cargo in the next financial year. That’s a hefty 5.2 % jump over the 1,617 MT hauled in FY 2024‑25—and the highest target the Railway Board has ever set.
Why the bold push?
- Freight is the cash engine. Every additional tonne goes straight to the revenue line, helping the network fund everything from track renewals to shiny new Vande Bharats
- Coal still rules the rails. With more than half of all wagon space taken up by coal, zones sitting atop India’s mining belt—Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand—wear the revenue crown.
- Ports are humming. East‑coast gateways like Paradip, Dhamra, Vizag and Gangavaram are shipping out record volumes of iron ore and alumina, and they all lean on rail to keep their yards fluid.
During a meeting with export promotion councils and industry bodies, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal commended exporters for their resilience and reaffirmed the government’s support amid challenges like rising U.S. tariffs.
Exporters have urged continued proactive measures to sustain momentum in an evolving global trade environment.
Zone‑by‑zone bragging rights
- East Coast Railway (ECoR) leads the pack—again. After topping FY 24‑25 with 259 MT, ECoR has been handed a beefy 275 MT challenge for the year ahead.
- Three other heavy‑hitters—South East Central, East Central and South Eastern—each get targets north of 200 MT, reflecting their coal and steel corridors.
- South Central aims for 150 MT, while legacy giants Eastern and Western settle in at 107 MT and 102 MT respectively.
- The remaining 11 zones will chip in anywhere between 2.5 MT (Konkan) and 86 MT (Central).
The takeaway
If the network delivers, India will edge closer to its vision of shifting freight away from highways and onto greener steel tracks—cutting emissions, unclogging roads and fattening the railway’s wallet all at once. The locomotive is rolling; FY 26 will show whether every zone can keep the wagons—and the revenue—on track.
