Railways To Boost Freight Revenue: Indian Railways is expanding the network on a large scale to enhance passenger facilities as well as strengthen the country’s logistics capabilities. As part of this strategy, the Ministry of Railways has decided to further strengthen rail connectivity with the country’s second largest cargo port, Paradip Port in Odisha. The railways will lay a total of 98 kilometers of new rail lines on two different routes in the region at an estimated cost of ₹3,300 crore. Paradip port handled a record 156.45 million tonnes of cargo in the financial year 2025-26, keeping in view the decision to speed up transportation of coal, iron ore and other heavy goods.

Lines will be doubled and flattened on two main routes

Under this project, the 53 km route between Haridaspur-Paradip, which is currently single line, will be doubled. DPR has got approval for this ₹1,100 crore project. Apart from this, third and fourth lines will be laid to reduce traffic pressure on the existing 45 km double-line route between Cuttack-Paradip. A detailed report on this ₹2,210 crore project is in the final stages. Tenders will be issued next year after completion of 90% land acquisition work on both these routes and all works will be completed by 2030-31.

Railways target to earn ₹1.89 lakh crore from freight transport

Indian Railways has targeted a revenue of ₹1.89 lakh crore from freight loading for FY 2026-27, which is 5.8% higher than ₹1.78 lakh crore for FY 2025-26. Notably, the railways set a new record by loading 1.67 billion tonnes of goods in the financial year 2025-26, which witnessed a 13% increase in the transportation of fertiliser, pig iron and finished steel. This loading is expected to increase to 1.76 billion tonnes in FY 2026-27.

‘Mission 3000’ and a strong network of ports in the country

The Ministry of Railways has launched “Mission 3000” to increase annual freight traffic to 3,000 metric tonnes by 2030-31. The main objective of the scheme is to save logistics cost and time by transferring heavy goods over the rail network instead of road. According to the Ministry of Shipping and Ports, 69 of the total 226 approved ports in the country are operational and 12 major ports are directly connected to the rail network.

Major ports connecting the east and west coasts

Currently on the east coast Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port (Kolkata/Haldia), Paradip (Odisha), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Kamarajar (Ennore), Chennai and V.O. Chidambaranar (Tamil Nadu) is directly connected to the rail network. While on the west coast Cochin (Kerala), New Mangalore (Karnataka), Murmugao (Goa), Mumbai Port and JNPA (Maharashtra) as well as Gujarat’s Deendayal Port (Kandla) are equipped with rail networks.