Growth in rail passenger, freight transport: Economic Survey

New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) The Indian Railways saw an increase in ferrying passengers by 1.85 per cent and also registered a growth of 5.34 per cent in transporting freight in 2018-19, the Economic Survey 2019-20 said on Friday.The survey was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. As per the pre-Budget survey, during the year 2018-19, Indian Railways carried 120 crore tonnes of freight and 840 crore passengers making it the world’s largest passenger carrier and fourth largest freight carrier.”Revenue earning freight loading by railways during 2018-19 was 12,215 lakh tonnes as against 11,596 lakh tonnes during 2017-18, registering an increase of 5.34 per cent,” the survey said.”Passengers originating was 84,390 lakh in 2018-19 as compared to 82,858 lakh in 2017-18, registering an increase of 1.85 per cent in 2018-19 over the previous year,” it said.–IANSaks/kr