Indian Railways strikes gold in scrap metal sales, generating ₹6,813 crore last year
Payyannur: For Indian Railways, "scrap" is serious business. The state-owned network auctions off everything from redundant rail clips to entire decommissioned locomotive engines. During the 2025-26 financial year, the railways generated a staggering ₹6,813 crore purely from scrap material sales. Riding on this success, the network has set an ambitious target of ₹6,000 crore for the current financial year.
Regional targets and Southern Railway's performance
The target has been distributed across 25 sectors, including 18 railway zones, the Integral Coach Factory, and the Rail Coach Factory.
- Northern Railway: Tasked with the highest target of ₹585 crore.
- Southern Railway (including Kerala): Handed a target of ₹440 crore.
- Past performance: Last year, the Southern Railway comfortably surpassed expectations by generating ₹531 crore from scrap sales.
From diesel engines to concrete sleepers: What’s on offer?
Entire trains that have been decommissioned due to age are put up for sale. Buyers can purchase heavy-duty old railway tracks, clips and copper scrap stored across various railway depots. Decommissioned diesel engines are currently stationed at loco sheds, including those in Erode and Perambur.
In addition, millions of concrete sleepers—replaced during track upgrades—are being auctioned off. These versatile concrete blocks have high reuse potential and are popular for building boundary fence posts. They can also be used to lay sturdy platforms, similar to the one at Valapattanam railway station. Interestingly, each sleeper contains about 15 kilograms of iron inside its frame and clips, making them valuable to scrap collectors who dismantle them for metal extraction.