Indian Railways aims to cross Rs 3 lakh crore in revenues in 2025-26, around 8 percent higher than 2024-25

Railway Minister Ashiwini Vaishnaw on February 1 told reporters that out of the total Budgetary allocation the Indian Railways has earmarked Rs 1.16 lakh crore as capital expenditure to boost railway safety in 2025-26.

The Indian railways’ total revenue from the passenger, and freight, segment will cross Rs 3 lakh crore in 2025-26, which will be 8.2 percent higher than the revenues earned by the national carrier in 2024-25.

"Indian Railways will achieve an important milestone in 2025-26 by crossing revenues of Rs 3 lakh crore, which will make Indian Railways the second largest railway network in the world," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on February 1.

While the Indian Railways’ revenue from the passenger segment is expected to rise 16 percent on year in 2025-26 to Rs 92,800 crore, revenues from cargo segment are seen rising only 4.4 percent on year to Rs 1,88,000 crore.

"The Indian Railways will carry 1.6 billion tonnes of cargo in 2024-25, which will rise even more in 2025-26," Vaishnaw told reporters.

He added that Indian Railways' passenger traffic is likely to remain below pre-COVID, pre-pandemic levels in 2024-25 and also in 2025-26. Vaishnaw said that the Indian Railways will target to carry around 790 crore passengers in FY26.

Passenger traffic stood at around 570 crore in the first nine months of FY25 increasing by about 5 percent compared to the previous year but falling short of the 808.6 crore seen in FY20, data from the Survey showed. The Railways has set an ambitious target of ferrying around 830 crore passengers in 2024-25, however, it is struggling to live up to the target.

Vaishnaw also told reporters on February 1 that railway projects worth Rs 4.6 lakh crore have been approved as part of the Budget for 2025-26. He added that the Indian Railways will produce 100 Amrit Bharat trains, 50 Namo Bharat trains and 200 Vande Bharat trains that will be delivered over the next three years.

The minister added that the production of 17,500 non AC general coaches has been approved as part of the Budget for 2025-26.

"Around 1,4000 non AC general coaches have been produced in 2024-25. The remaining non AC general coaches will be produced over the next few years," Vaishnaw said.

Indian Railways' passenger traffic is still suffering

Vaishnaw said that the fall in passenger traffic seen by the Indian Railways was on account of a change in lifestyle of the Indian consumers and not because of removal in concession on train tickets.

In December, Vaishnaw had informed the Lok Sabha that the railways continue to provide concession to travellers. However, railway ticket subsidies have seen a significant reduction over the years, with the latest figures indicating a decrease of almost 6 percent.

Earlier, Indian Railways provided Concessions in passenger fare to various categories of passengers, including accredited Journalists, Physically Challenged Persons, Patients, Senior Citizens, Izzat Monthly Season Ticket holders, Students, Sports Persons, and War Widows.

However, the Concessions for foreign nationals and Non-resident Indians have been excluded from the senior citizen category for concession in passenger fare. The Indian Railways also doesn’t provide Concessions in trains like -- Humsafar, Antyodaya, Gatimaan, Vande Bharat, etc.

The re-introduction of train Concession for selected categories has been raised several times in the Parliament. Many government officials have urged the Indian Railways to reinstate concessions on train fares for journalists, senior citizens, and other categories, including the Izzat Pass for poor skilled workers traveling up to 100 km by train, as was previously the practice.

Railway sets ambitious goals for passenger revenues in 2025-26

Indian Railways is targeting to generate around Rs 37,115.32 crore from AC 3 Tier passengers in 2025-26, which is around 40 percent higher than the revenue generated by the segment in 2024-25 at Rs 30,088.59 crore. At the same time revenues from the sleeper class passenger segment are projected to fall nearly 6 percent in FY26 to Rs 16,508.55 crore. The national rail generated Rs 15597.18 crore as revenue from this segment in FY25.

Similarly, the national carrier is looking to generate Rs 5,626.01 crore from AC chair car segment in FY26 which is 46 percent higher than the Rs 4280.55 crore earned from this segment in FY25.