Indian Railways loaded 145.07 million tonnes of freight in October 2026, an 8.32% increase from 133.93 million tonnes a year earlier and the network’s highest October volume on record.
The data provide a broad, high-frequency view of movement across energy, agriculture, metals and manufactured goods. Food-grain loading grew 26.3%, domestic coal 16%, other goods 11%, clinker 10.4% and domestic containers 6.3%.
Coal movement to power stations accelerates
Average domestic coal supply to power houses rose to 469.8 rakes a day from 393.2 a year earlier, a 19.5% increase. That pace matters for generators because transport availability can be as important as mine production in determining plant inventories.
Iron ore loading increased 5%, mineral oil 1.9% and finished steel 0.5%. The variation across commodities suggests a broad expansion led by bulk energy and food flows rather than uniform growth across every industrial category.
From April through October, total freight loading reached 978.78 million tonnes, up 4.67% from 935.10 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2025–26. October therefore ran substantially ahead of the financial-year-to-date growth rate.
Freight data signal logistics demand, with limits
Rail loading is a useful indicator of industrial and logistics activity, but it is not a direct measure of final demand. Commodity mix, route length, inventory restocking and shifts from road to rail can all influence tonnage.
Passenger volumes also rose. The network carried 64.72 crore passengers in October, compared with 63.52 crore a year earlier, while April–October traffic reached 443.8 crore.
The next checkpoints are whether monthly freight growth remains above the year-to-date pace, whether container loading strengthens and whether higher coal movement translates into comfortable power-station stocks rather than temporary inventory rebuilding.
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