Indian Rail passenger traffic volume growing steadily

Railway passenger originating data as released by CEIC website indicates a steady rise in volumes over a 12-month period from October 2021 to September 2022. The volume has increased by 59.21% from the level of 344.41 million in October 2021 to 548.36 million in September 2022.

This growth is illustrative of railway passenger traffic returning to near normal with the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid19 pandemic easing up.

It may be noted that the high point in passenger originating volume in the 12-month period is still way below the high of 858.03 million recorded in June 2014.

At a high level, the Rail ministry has set the goal of taking the passenger traffic volume to 12 billion a year by the year 2030. This will be made possible through rapid modernisation of railway station redevelopment, development of greenfield railway stations that rival the best of airports in terms of infrastructure and passenger amenities, and introduction of high-speed trains that bring more traffic to the networks.