Indian Railways saw wagons, locomotives production rise in FY25, says Economic Survey 2025

The focus on railway station infrastructure and modernisation of locomotives and coaching stock have improved passenger amenities in the railway sector, the Survey said.

The Indian Railways saw higher addition of rolling stocks such as wagons, coaches, and locomotives in the first nine months of 2024-25, said the Economic Survey for 2024-25 tabled in Parliament on January 31.

The Survey shows that the production of wagons increased to 26,146 in FY25 (April-November) from a total of 22,042 wagons produced in FY24 (April-November). A total of 1,042 locomotives were produced in FY25 in comparison to 968 locomotives being produced during the same period in last financial year.

"During FY25 so far, the progress in the expansion of the railway network stayed at levels comparable to the previous year, while the addition of rolling stock increased considerably," the survey said.

According to the report, a total of 2,031 kilometres of railway network was commissioned in the current fiscal year during April to November, which was slightly slower than the 2,282 km of rail network was commissioned in FY24 during the same period.

Similarly, around 228 Vande Bharat coaches were produced in the first seven months of 2024-25 and around 17 pairs of Vande Bharat trains were introduced to the network, the survey said.

This indicated a slight slow down in the manufacturing of Vande Bharat coaches so far in 2024-25 to around 33 new coaches per month from the pace of 38 new coaches per month seen in 2023-24 when 456 Vande Bharat coaches were produced ad 41 pairs of Vande Bharat trains were introduced.

The Survey reviews how the economy performed this fiscal year and the road ahead for the next year.

Indian Railways' passenger traffic is still suffering

The Indian Railways' passenger traffic is still suffering due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2024-25, data from the Economic Survey for 2024-25 showed.

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.

Despite the slow recovery of passenger traffic, the Indian Railways has taken multiple steps to enhance passenger travel experience for the middle class, the Survey said.

"Out of a total of 7,325 railway stations across the nation, train indication boards have been provided at 1351 stations, coach guidance systems at 866 stations, digital clocks at 5605 stations, and public address systems at 6071 stations as of November 2024," the survey said, adding that "Wi-Fi facility has been provided at 6112 stations to date."

It added that initiatives like the high-speed, long-distance Vande sleeper trainset coaches and Vande metro trainset coaches expected in 2024-25 will enhance passenger travel experience.

It added that the Indian Railways has introduced Wi-Fi facilities at 6,108 stations and has several initiatives for providing clean environment in and around railway stations and trains.

Freight volumes also experience a slowdown

The post COVID acceleration in freight traffic at Indian Railways is showing signs of moderation, data from the Economic Survey showed.

For the current financial year, Indian Railways has transported 1,038 mt of freight, reflecting a 2.1 percent increase over FY24. Growth in freight traffic slowed to 2.1 percent in April-November 2024 compared to 3.8 percent in the year ago period.

The slowing freight traffic can weigh on revenue growth rates of Indian Railways even though much also depends on the passenger services business.

The national transporter had reported a 5.3 percent increase in freight volumes in 2023-24 when compared to 2022-23 as it carried 158.8 crore tonnes of revenue-earning freight in FY24.

The freight loading of the railways achieved a CAGR of 7.1 per cent from FY20 to FY24, with the special emphasis on capacity addition, new rolling stock and improving operational efficiencies.

Going forward projects for three major corridors viz. (1) High-traffic density corridors, (2) Energy, Mineral and Cement Corridors and (3) Rail Sagar (port connectivity) corridors are also planned to reduce logistics cost, carbon footprint and boost railway freight volumes.

Investment in Railways on the rise

From July to November 2024, the Union government’s capex rose by 8.2 percent, with defence, railways, and road transport accounting for 75 percent of the total capital outlay, the Economic Survey said.

The Ministry of Railways has spent 76 percent of its allocated budgetary capital expenditure for FY25 in the first nine months of the financial year, data from the economic survey showed.

The ministry has spent Rs 1.91 lakh crore from the gross budgetary support, Rs 824 crore from external resources, and Rs 8,733 crore from extra-budgetary resources (public-private partnership) on infrastructure creation.

In total, the ministry has spent Rs 2.02 lakh crore of the budgeted Rs 2.65 lakh crore, as of January 5, a government official said. As of December 31, the railways’ capital expenditure (capex) execution was Rs 4,975 crore more than the previous year.

Improving safety of Indian Railways

The Survey also said that the Indian Railways is working towards modernizing its signalling safety systems to enhance operational efficiency and safety across its vast network.

Indian Railways is replacing mechanical signalling with electronic interlocking systems, the Survey indicated.

"In FY25, 25 out of 62 pending stations have been upgraded to electrical/electronic interlocking systems, with 9 zonal railways now free from mechanical signalling," the Survey said.

Similarly, the survey said that Indian Railways has invested Rs 1,547 crore (till November 2024) in Kavach, the indigenously developed Automated Train Protection system, the specification version 4.0 of which was approved on July 16, 2024.

It also said that electronic interlocking systems have been installed at 227 stations in 2024-25, increasing the coverage to a total of 3,576 stations.

The Survey also said that the Indian Railways launched its first direct drive interlocking system in November 2024 at Tajpur station and is installing Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) to enhance capacity on high-density routes.

"720 route kilometres have been covered with ABS this fiscal year, increasing the coverage to a total of 4,906 kilometres," the Survey said, adding that the government has launched a signal design automation tool in September 2024.

"This tool automates route control chart generation for station yards," the Survey said.