The country’s freight trains have seen an increase in their operational efficiency in the last fiscal year and reduced the country’s logistics cost besides achieving historic milestones, such as the launch of ‘Rudrashtra’, the country’s longest freight train on the DFCCIL route.
At the 20th Foundation Day of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), which manages around 2,750 km long Eastern and Western corridors, Satish Kumar, Railway Board’s chief executive officer and chairman, shared this information.
The event was held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Friday.
Kumar said India’s freight trains saw a 48 per cent surge in freight train operations in FY 2024-25, moving 1 tonne of goods over a cumulative distance of nearly 11.5 million km.
The Corporation said it operated over 381 freight trains per day on average, which helped reduce India’s total logistics costs from 14 per cent of GDP to approximately 8-9 per cent.
The country’s total logistics cost is estimated at around ₹24 lakh crore.
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“A total of 1,39,302 trains were successfully operated during the review period, a testament to the organisation’s growing reliability and operational capability,” a press note from the DFCCIL said.
A historic milestone of the Corporation was the successful operation of ‘Rudrashtra’, the country’s longest freight train on the DFCCIL route, stretching 4.5 kilometres, with 354 wagons and seven locomotives.
“It made a new chapter in India’s freight transport history,” the DFCCIL said.
Meanwhile, the Gross Tonne Kilometre (GTKM), a measure of freight transport activity, reached 20,02,271 million, while the Net Tonne Kilometre (NTKM) stood at 11,49,79 million, indicating continuous improvement in network productivity, the body said.
The GTKM is the total weight of train and cargo multiplied by the distance it travels, while the NTKM is the weight of the cargo multiplied by the distance.
“DFCCIL made remarkable progress in expanding connectivity and logistics through Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs) and Multimodal Logistics Hubs (MMLHs). The Gothangam Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal was inaugurated in March 2025, while the New Daud Khan and New Ankleshwar (near New Sanjali) terminals were also commissioned,” the statement added.
Other initiatives, such as the ‘Truck-on-Train’ and ‘High-Speed Small Cargo Service’, are strengthening first and last mile connectivity, giving a major boost to the modal shift towards rail Transport, it added.
Next on the map the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals, through which “DFCCIL continues to connect local industries with national and global markets, contributing to a more efficient supply chain and an improved logistics cost-to-GDP ratio”.
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