Indian Railways (IR) booked a 2.97 per cent rise in its top line for February 2026 at ₹14,571.99 crore, up from ₹14,151.96 crore in February 2025.
Freight loading rose 3.96 per cent to 137.72 MT in February 2026 from 132.48 MT in February 2025.
Net Tonne Kilometres (NTKM), a key indicator of freight movement, reached 76,007 million NTKM in February 2026, compared with 72,955 million NTKM in February 2025, up 4.18 per cent.
April 2025-February 2026 performance
For the above 11-month period freight revenue touched ₹1,60,987 crore, as compared to ₹1,58,539.86 crore in the corresponding period last year, up 1.54 per cent.
In the same period, IR carried 1,503.80 million tonnes of freight, compared with 1,456.07 million tonnes a yoy increase of 3.28 per cent.
Total freight movement for the same period measured in NTKM stood at 840,000 million, compared with 826,586 million, a growth of 1.62 per cent.
Commodities driven growth
Freight revenue performance was due a rise in volume of coal, iron ore, finished steel, fertilizers, cement and container traffic carried by IR.
According to the daily freight loading position, iron ore loading stood at 0.675 million tonnes compared to 0.529 million tonnes last year up 27.6 per cent while pig iron and finished steel registered 0.343 million tonnes compared to 0.284 million tonnes last year up 20.8 per cent.
Raw materials for steel plants (excluding iron ore) grew to 0.141 million tonnes from 0.096 million tonnes up 46.9 per cent.
Similarly, fertilizer loading increased to 0.184 million tonnes from 0.167 million tonnes up 10.2 per cent, mineral oil to 0.172 million tonnes from 0.146 million tonnes up 17.8 per cent and container EXIM traffic to 0.251 million tonnes from 0.213 million tonnes up 17.8 per cent.
In the monthly cumulative performance for February, fertilizer loading increased to 5.396 million tonnes from 4.224 million tonnes,up 27.7 per cent while clinker rose to 6.508 million tonnes from 5.421 million tonnes up 20.1 per cent.
Pig iron and finished steel loading reached 6.237 million tonnes compared to 5.522 million tonnes up 12.9 per cent and iron ore grew to 16.370 million tonnes from 14.925 million tonnes up 9.7 per cent.
Container EXIM traffic touched 5.432 million tonnes vs 5.142 million tonnes, up 5.6 per cent) and container domestic traffic was 2.015 million tonnes vs 1.970 million tonnes, up 2.3 per cent.
IR has taken several measures such as capacity augmentation, improved terminal infrastructure, dedicated freight corridors and digital freight management systems to carry goods more efficiently while reducing logistics costs.
Pig iron and finished steel loading reached 6.237 million tonnes compared to 5.522 million tonnes up 12.9 per cent and iron ore grew to 16.370 million tonnes from 14.925 million tonnes up 9.7 per cent.
Container EXIM traffic touched 5.432 million tonnes vs 5.142 million tonnes, up 5.6 per cent) and container domestic traffic was 2.015 million tonnes vs 1.970 million tonnes, up 2.3 per cent.
IR has taken several measures such as capacity augmentation, improved terminal infrastructure, dedicated freight corridors and digital freight management systems to carry goods more efficiently while reducing logistics costs.
