While the demand for coal freight is rising and an aggressive push is diversifying the freight basket, Indian Railways plans to buy another 100,000 wagons in the next three fiscal years.
The procurement plan shall majorly include BOXN wagons, which are used for coal transportation, said a senior official from the Ministry of Railways.
The Indian Railways recently floated a tender of wagons of Rs 35,000 crore, which were in the pipeline from 2018.
The Railways plans to attain higher numbers with encouraging freight numbers in this financial year along with the medium term.
As per the Budget, Indian railways are aiming to increase their annual freight loading to 1,475 mt, having a projected revenue of Rs 1.65 trillion in the year 2022-23.
Under the National Rail Plan (NRP), the central government aims to significantly increase the freight numbers of the national transporter and the modal freight share to 45% by 2030.
As per the estimates of the Indian government, the consolidated demand for freight would be more than 6,300 mt by 2026 and 8,220 mt by 2031.
A total of 1,418 mt were ferried in this fiscal year and the national transporter needs to make it over 2,000 mt by 2024 and 3,600 mt by 2031 for meeting the NRP targets.