Amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Railways’ freight business registered the highest ever loading in May. The world’s fourth-largest rail transporter clocked 114.8 million tonnes (MT) of freight, which was 9.7 per cent more than May 2019. Important items transported included 54.52 MT of coal, 15.12 MT of iron ore, 5.61 MT of foodgrains, 3.68 MT of fertilisers, 3.18 MT of mineral oil, 5.36 MT of cement (excluding clinker) and 4.2 MT of clinker. The wagon turnaround time for the period also improved by 26 per cent to come at 4.81 days as compared to 6.46 a year ago. The Railways earned Rs 116.04 billion through freight loading for the month.