The Salem Division of Southern Railway has recorded significant growth in freight loading and earnings over the past two financial years.
In the financial year 2024–25, the division reported freight earnings of ₹305.83 crore, which increased to ₹337.83 crore in 2025–26, marking a growth of 10.3 %.
Freight loading also showed impressive growth, rising from 2.85 million tonnes in 2024–25 to 3.22 million tonnes in 2025–26, registering a 12.89 % increase.
Sources noted that Coimbatore alone generates around ₹600 crore in revenue for Southern Railway annually, including ₹345 crore from ticket sales and ₹260 crore from goods revenue, despite the absence of a port in the district. This makes it the third-highest revenue contributor in Southern Railway, which includes Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Industry representatives expressed that this is a tremendous progress for Salem Division, and also hoped that with such development taking place here, the Southern Railways will build more infrastructure, including the addition of pit lines, expansion of platforms, introduction of new trains across categories, increased train speeds, and implementation of the Kavach safety system along with automatic signalling.
An industry representative further pointed out that Coimbatore alone contributes about ₹265 crore in goods revenue, while the entire Salem Division generates around ₹332 crore annually, underscoring the city’s key role in the division’s overall performance.
Key request still awaited
To be noted that a long-pending demand to establish Coimbatore as a separate railway division is yet to be implemented.
