Railways logs record freight loading in 2020-21 despite COVID-19

Indian Railways reported record freight loading in 2020-21 despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to negative growth in loading during the lockdown.

"Freight loading in 2020-21 stood at 1,232.63 million tonnes, up 1.93 per cent over 1,209.32 million tonnes in the previous financial year," a release from the Railway Ministry said.

During 2020-21, revenue from freight loading for Indian Railways stood at Rs 1,17,386 crore, which is 3 per cent higher compared with Rs 1,13,897.20 crore during the year-ago period.

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"Indian Railways has maintained the momentum of highest ever loading in consecutive seven respective months from September 2020 to March 2021," the ministry added.

In the month of March 2021, Indian Railways' freight loading was at 130.38 million tonnes, up 27.33 per cent compared with March 2020 (103.05 million tonnes).

"We have witnessed a continuous increase in freight traffic since the month of August. Every month the freight carriage was higher compared with the corresponding month of the previous year," Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma had said earlier on higher freight loading.

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