As demand for coal freight rises and an aggressive push diversifies the freight basket, Indian Railways plans to purchase another 100,000 wagons over the next three fiscal years.

The procurement plan mainly includes BOXN wagons, which are used to transport coal, a senior official from the Ministry of Railways said.

The Indian Railways recently floated a tender of Rs 35,000 crore wagons, which were in the pipeline as of 2018.

The Railways plans to achieve higher numbers this fiscal year and in the medium term with encouraging freight numbers.

According to the budget, Indian Railways aims to increase their annual freight load to 1,475 mt, with a projected turnover of Rs 1.65 trillion in the year 2022-23.

With the National Rail Plan (NRP), the government wants to significantly increase the freight numbers of the national carrier and the modal freight share to 45% by 2030.

According to estimates by the Government of India, the consolidated freight demand is expected to exceed 6,300 million tons in 2026 and 8,220 million tons by 2031.

In this fiscal year, a total of 1,418 tons have been transported and the national carrier must reach more than 2,000 tons by 2024 and more than 3,600 tons by 2031 to meet the NRP targets.