South Western Railways (SWR) plays an important role in Indian economy by moving Freight traffic that originates in states of Karnataka and Goa. In addition to originating traffic the states of Karnataka, Goa, Andhrapradesh, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra are also served by freight traffic of fertilizer,cement,steel etc.
Stiff freight loading targets set by Railway Board have been met by SWR during the financial year 2022-23 (upto Jan 2023). SWR has loaded 37.66 Million Tonnes (MT). The major commodities contributed to this loading are Iron Ore: 14.01 MT (37.2%), Coal: 8.69 MT (23.1%), Iron & Steel 06.69 MT (17.8%). SWR’s freight basket also includes Cement, Petroleum Products (POL), Container, Fertilizer, Food grains and other goods viz. Sugar, onion, Automobiles, Granite, Granulated Slag, etc.
Major Freight Customer of SWR are JSW Steel Ltd, Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), NMDC, BMM Ispat, MSPL, Zuari, Ultratech, ACC, JK Cements and others.