The Indian Railways logged Rs 2.04 trillion in earnings so far this fiscal year, exceeding those of the same period last year by 4%. A senior official said the railways is exploring adjusting freight rates to further drive volumes. "We estimate higher goods earnings if fares on certain commodities are rationalisation," the official told Most of the earnings came from higher freight loading, which rose 2% to nearly 1.18 billion tonnes during April-December 2024. There was a 3% increase in the total number of mail, express, passenger and other train services, with more than 2.07 million runs, an all-time-high. Frequency of special trains run during periods of high demand surged 54% year-on-year during the nine-month period to 57,169. To ensure the momentum continues, the national transporter has decided to introduce a new timetable which, in a first, has 62 special trains pre-included on popular routes. Besides starting 74 new services, 34 pairs of Vande Bharat trains have been included in the new timetable.