Indian Railways' freight movement slows down due to coronavirus pandemic

Text by Shivani SharmaDesign by Pragati Srivastava

Overall railway freight movement in April, 2020 at 65.4 million tonnes was 35.3 per cent lower than it was in April, 2019. Coal is the biggest freight movement on railways. Its movement dropped by 34.5 per cent y-o-y in April, 2020.

Coal is the biggest freight movement on railways. Its movement dropped by 34.5 per cent y-o-y in April, 2020. Coal freight for thermal plants was down 37.4 per cent, y-o-y, or just 14.7 million tonnes. Power generation by utilities had declined by 8.7 per cent in March and coal-based thermal power generation which accounts for 79 per cent of total power generation, was down by 12.4 per cent.

Iron ore movement was down 31.7 per cent and other raw materials were down 39.2 per cent. Movement of pig iron and finished steel from steel plants was down by 50.6 per cent.

As per index of eight core industries (ICI), cement production recorded 24.7 per cent fall in March, 2020. This was its worst recorded fall since the beginning of the series in April, 2012. During March 2020, cement traffic through railways also fell by 26.3 per cent. But, the real fall was in April 2020. Cement traffic through railways fell by 90.6 per cent in April 2020.

Movement of pig iron and finished steel from steel plants was down by 50.6 per cent. It came down to 2.1 million tones in April, 2020 from 4.2 million tones in April, 2019.

Consumption of petroleum products recorded 17.8 per cent y-o-y decline during March 2020. This was the worst fall recorded since the beginning of the series in 2004. Petroleum, oil and lubricants movement over railways in April, 2020 was 35.6 per cent down compared to the freight a year ago.

Railways freight data tells us that the movement of fertilisers over railways during April 2020 was 17.9 per cent lower than it was a year ago, although sales of fertilisers recorded 53.4 per cent y-o-y increase during April, 2020. This is the highest recorded growth since March, 2012.

Among other commodities freight from railways, food grains freight traffic recorded a growth of 135 per cent from same month a year ago. Indian Railways ensures availability of essential items like food grain through its freight train services during the lockdown due to the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

Raw materials were down 39.2 per cent. In April, 2020, coal for steel plants was down 37.2 per cent compared to such movement in April, 2019. By a similar comparison, iron ore movement was down 32.2 per cent and other raw materials were down 39.2 per cent.