Indian Railways Set a Coal Loading Record in the First 18 Days of October 2026, 22.5 Per Cent Above Last Year, After Moving 135.35 Million Tonnes of Freight in September

Indian Railways reported its highest-ever coal loading for 1 to 18 October 2026. The Ministry of Railways said in a statement on 22 October that loading for the period was up 22.5 per cent on the same days of October 2025, which came to 87 more rakes a day. A rake is the railway’s word for a full train of wagons, so the figure counts trains, not tonnes.

The statement gives no absolute rake count for October and no tonnage, and it covers only 1 to 18 October. The full-month number will come after the month closes. The release describes the result as “continued efforts to ensure reliable coal supplies to thermal power plants across the country”.

What the 22 October statement says

The Press Information Bureau posted the release at 5:45 PM on 22 October, and News On AIR, ITLN and IANS carried the same set. The 22.5 per cent rise and the 87 extra rakes a day are for 1 to 18 October. For the first half of the financial year 2026-27 (April to September), the railway dispatched an average of 430 coal rakes a day to thermal power plants, up 7.1 per cent on the same months of 2025.

The ministry linked the pace to three things: higher energy use, more demand for coal-based power as industrial output rose, and deficient rainfall in some parts of the country. It said steady coal movement had kept coal stocks at thermal plants stable, and that it was working with the Ministry of Coal on moving coal out of the mines and with the Ministry of Power on supply to stations.

September: 135.35 million tonnes of freight

The coal figure came nine days after the railway published its September freight total. Loading in September 2026 was 135.35 million tonnes, against 127.52 million tonnes in September 2025, a rise of 6.14 per cent (ANI, Swarajya, Indian Infrastructure). Freight revenue rose by Rs 1,266 crore, or 9.3 per cent.

Coal loading grew 9 per cent in the month. Food grain grew faster at 25 per cent, then clinker (the cement-making intermediate) at 20 per cent and domestic containers at 10 per cent. “Balance other goods” rose 8.2 per cent, mineral oil 6 per cent, finished steel 5.5 per cent and iron ore 5.2 per cent.

Coal trains to power houses averaged 443 rakes a day in September, against 397 a year earlier. ANI’s September report puts that rise at 11.6 per cent, which matches the arithmetic. The 22 October release says coal rake dispatches in September were 14 per cent higher per day than in September 2025. Neither document explains the gap between the two percentages.

For April to September, loading came to 833.7 million tonnes, up 4.1 per cent, and freight revenue was up 3.7 per cent.

Where coal sits in the railway’s freight

Coal is the single biggest item the railway carries. In a Ministry of Railways release of 22 November 2025, loading for 2025-26 had reached 1,020 million tonnes by 19 November, and coal accounted for 505 million tonnes of that, ahead of iron ore at 115 million tonnes and cement at 92 million tonnes. For the whole of 2025-26 the railway carried a record 1,670 million tonnes of freight, 3.25 per cent more than the year before, according to the ministry’s release of 1 April 2026.

That weight is why a coal record moves the total. Tuput’s article on how Indian Railways pays its own way explains how freight, coal above all, covers the gap left by cheap passenger fares.

Why the power sector needed the trains

Power demand ran high through 2026. A senior Power Ministry official said on 22 October, as reported by Business Standard and Reuters, that peak demand was about 45 to 50 gigawatts above the same period of 2025, driven by hotter weather and stronger industrial activity. The same official said hydropower output had been weaker, which the official linked to rainfall disrupted by El Nino, and that scattered rain in mining regions had interrupted coal supply.

Business Today reported on 24 October that the southwest monsoon ended on 15 October with a 15 per cent rainfall deficit. It cited Nikit Abhyankar of the University of California, Berkeley, for a 16 per cent fall in hydropower generation from June to October 2026, with thermal plants making up the whole shortfall. For how the monsoon works, see the science of the monsoon.

Solar did some of the work too. Business Today put solar generation up 39 per cent year on year in 2026, and tuput’s piece on India’s renewable capacity has the capacity side of that.

What the coal ministry’s numbers show

The Ministry of Coal published its own count of what reached the plants. Its statement of 12 October said stock at domestic coal-based plants had stayed above 18 million tonnes since 29 September: 18.932 million tonnes on 29 September and 18.205 million tonnes on 10 October. Stock fell by about 7.28 million tonnes through September, roughly 0.24 million tonnes a day, and by only about 0.56 million tonnes in the first ten days of October, roughly 0.06 million tonnes a day.

Over 1 to 10 October the ministry counted an average of 469 rakes a day loaded for the power sector, up from 426 a day in September, with the daily figure ranging between 447 and 482. Actual supply averaged 2.49 million tonnes a day, up from 2.21 million tonnes in September, and beat the planned 2.37 million tonnes on nine of the ten days. These are the coal ministry’s counts for the power sector over 1 to 10 October, while the railway statement covers coal loading generally over 1 to 18 October, so the two sets are not directly comparable.

An update of 5 October from the same ministry had Coal India’s supply to power plants at 302.8 million tonnes for April to September 2026, up 6.1 per cent, with September alone at 48.9 million tonnes, up 10.6 per cent.

The stock position in the second half of October

The record loading sits beside low stocks at some plants. The Power Ministry official quoted on 22 October put dispatches to thermal plants at a record 2.6 million tonnes a day and said supply should return to normal soon. Central Electricity Authority data cited in the same reports showed 96 plants with fuel for fewer than three days of generation on 19 October, up from 60 in mid-September. The official said deliveries had been stepped up, including to NTPC stations.

The 12 October coal ministry statement had said supply to plants with critical stock was being monitored and that coal was being redistributed to vulnerable stations according to need.

The Central Electricity Authority count for 19 October, 96 plants under three days of fuel, is the latest stock figure in the reports cited here.