Indian Railways has been adversely affected by the delay in supply of freight wagons by private manufacturers to replace old rolling stock and also create a buffer.

There is a backlog of nearly 25,000 wagons to be supplied by private manufacturers, according to a member of the Railway Board, who did not want to be named.

“Private wagon manufacturers are unable to supply the orders that we placed with them in the past. We are now in the process of issuing further orders. We have increased our manufacturing capacity in Indian Railways, which will produce over 4,000 wagons this year,” said the official.

In 2018-19, Indian Railways loaded 1,216 million tonnes (mt) of goods, 55 mt more than the freight loaded in the previous year. Coal and coke contribute nearly 60 per cent of freight traffic, followed by cement and foodgrains.

“The Railways is always at the receiving end. In this case, private manufacturers are unable to clear the backlog but the Railways is pulled up for not supplying adequate wagons. They should clear the backlog. There is no shortage of demand to move cargo, as Indian Railways estimate originating loading for freight business to increase to 2,165 mt by 2020,” he said.

Indian Railways’ freight business is supported by five major bulk commodities - coal, steel, foodgrains, fertilisers and petroleum products, and moving containers handled by the Container Corporation of India.

Freight contributes to over 65 per cent of Railways’ revenue, followed by passenger traffic. “Profit from the freight business is used to cross-subsidise the passenger segment,” said a Railways official.

Currently, Indian Railways has a fleet of nearly 3 lakh wagons of two varieties: open and closed.

Some of the large wagon manufacturers include Texmaco Rail and Engineering, Titagarh Wagons, Jindal Rail, Modern Industries, Hindustan Engineering, BESCO and Jupiter Wagons, he added.

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