New Delhi: Even as Indian Railways’ freight traffic increased by 0.5% in the last financial year, earnings took a hit as the national carrier transported a larger volume of low-tariff freight, the Economic Survey said. According to provisional estimates for 2016-17, railways carried 1106.6 million tonnes (mt) of revenue-earning freight traffic as compared to 1101.5 mt during 2015-16. This comes at a time when passenger fare has remained flat, while freight fare has risen sharply. The national carrier has a track length of around 115,000km, making it the world’s largest railway network under a single management. However, during 2002-03 to 2015-16 while passenger fare increased at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 3.6 per cent, the freight fare increased at a CAGR of 6.2%,” the Survey said.

Source: Mint August 11, 2017 21:22 UTC