Indian Railways Sold ₹425 Crore of Scrap in Under Three Weeks, Most of the Government's ₹491 Crore Drive Total. Here Is What Is in the Lots.

A Friday sale in Jammu

On Friday, 11 September 2026, a railway division in Jammu held its first e-auction for scrap. It sold 1,049.4 tonnes of permanent way scrap, which is cut and worn rail taken off the track. Officials said eligible individuals, traders, small firms, dealers and recyclers anywhere in India could bid. Three more auctions were planned for 17, 22 and 28 September. They would cover rail scrap, vehicle scrap, old machinery and office furniture.

One division sold more than a thousand tonnes in a single sale. The campaign figures show how large the total has become.

The numbers at a glance

(Campaign and zone figures are as reported by the government and the railway zones. The 86% share is our estimate. The Auctions page count is a snapshot and changes through the day.)

The number from 19 October

On 19 October 2026, Union Minister Jitendra Singh reviewed Special Campaign 6.0, which runs from 2 to 31 October. The campaign had covered 8,34,509 sites by then, about three times the 2,75,432 sites covered by the same point in 2025. Scrap disposal revenue stood at ₹491.28 crore against ₹304.72 crore a year earlier. By our estimate, that is a rise of about 61%.

The campaign has grown quickly. In 2022, its first three weeks brought in ₹254.21 crore. Campaign 5 reported about ₹833.92 crore in all, and the five campaigns together reported ₹5,102.91 crore up to July 2026. By our estimate, the ₹491.28 crore reached on 19 October already equals about 59% of everything Campaign 5 reported.

The review named one ministry's scrap figure. Railways reported ₹425.06 crore. That is about 86% of the total (425.06 divided by 491.28, our estimate). The Railway Board has set a goal of ₹600 crore for scrap and e-waste by 31 October. On 19 October, Railways stood at about 71% of that goal, again by our estimate.

A campaign built to clear government offices has become, in rupees, mostly a story about railway yards.

One ministry, one year

Railways does not wait for a campaign. It reported ₹6,813.86 crore from scrap in 2025-26 against a target of ₹6,000 crore. The year before, it reported ₹6,641.78 crore with a target of ₹5,400 crore. An earlier report in April put the 2025-26 figure at ₹6,735.52 crore, so we say more than ₹6,700 crore.

Either figure is larger than the ₹5,102.91 crore reported by the campaign over five years. Spread over 365 days, ₹6,813.86 crore is about ₹18.7 crore of scrap sold every day, by our estimate.

What is in the lots

Central Railway gives the clearest picture. It sold ₹323.50 crore of scrap from April to September 2026, its highest six-month figure and the highest among the zones in that period. September alone brought ₹70.42 crore, a record month for the zone. Its report lists these items, without saying whether every quantity covers the full six months.

Rail scrap: about 29,993 tonnes, plus more than 1.72 lakh old sleepers.

Ferrous and non-ferrous scrap: about 15,547 tonnes and about 1,999 tonnes.

Rolling stock: 23 locomotives, 62 coaches and 70 wagons.

E-waste: about 46.85 tonnes.

The e-waste line is small in value. It brought ₹1.11 crore, about 0.3% of the zone's total by our estimate. The campaign puts special weight on e-waste, yet the largest quantities in the report are rail and iron.

Between 17 September and 2 October, a Zero Scrap Mission drive in the same zone sold 4,884 tonnes for ₹44.24 crore. That averages about ₹90,600 a tonne by our estimate. The report does not give the mix of material, so the average is no price signal. For reference, our price page showed heavy melting scrap at ₹37.70 a kg nationally on 12 October. That is ₹37,700 a tonne.

Four divisions of Central Railway sold the most: Bhusawal ₹57.27 crore, Mumbai ₹52.08 crore, Pune ₹47.55 crore and Nagpur ₹46.08 crore.

Four zones, four reports

Other zones have published their own figures, each for a different period. The list below is no league table, because the dates and targets do not match.

Central Railway: ₹323.50 crore, April to September 2026. This was the highest of any zone in that period.

North Central Railway: ₹286.79 crore, April to September 2026, against an annual target of ₹285 crore.

Western Railway: about ₹320 crore, 1 April to 16 October 2026. That is 28% above its proportionate target of ₹248.97 crore.

Eastern Railway: ₹251.92 crore, April to August 2026. That is 21% above its proportionate target of ₹207.17 crore.

Western Railway's annual target is more than ₹500 crore, and it said it also beat its October monthly target of ₹55 crore during a special drive. Eastern Railway reported ₹193 crore for the same months in 2025, so its rise is about 30%.

How the lots reach buyers

Railway scrap is sold through online auctions, and officials in Jammu described the process as open to eligible bidders. Our Auctions page lists public scrap auctions and tenders and links each one back to the official source. It does not run the auctions.

At 4:20 pm on 19 October 2026, the page showed 1,555 open tenders. Of these, 974 were closing within seven days and 217 were closing that day. IREPS, the railway e-procurement system, supplied 300 listings. MSTC supplied 359 and NIC eAuction 68. By material, metals had 178 listings and vehicles 1,073. Four sources were unavailable at that refresh, so the counts may be low.

You can filter the page by material, state, seller and source platform, then open the official listing to check the lot size, deposit, inspection dates and closing time. The page shows a value only when the source gives it, and it never estimates a missing one.

Public lots also raise tax questions for buyers. Our GST Guru section covers how GST applies to scrap purchases.

What it may mean for prices

We found no tonnage for the ₹425.06 crore, so we cannot say how much metal reached the market or in which grades. We make no claim about prices. Rail lots sell one by one, and the rate depends on the condition of the lot, its location and the market on the day of the auction.

For context, steel scrap rose ₹1,300 a tonne in the week to 5 October at Mandi Gobindgarh. Our September month-end report has the wider price picture.

The draft steel policy wants domestic scrap collection to rise from 28 million to 111 million tonnes by 2047-48. Our report on the draft has the detail. Our 2 October report looked at the processing side. Alang and vehicle scrapping centres run far below capacity.

Campaign dates seem to pull sales forward. Central Railway's record month was September, which includes the start of its Zero Scrap Mission drive on 17 September. Western Railway beat its October target during a special drive. Our reading is that public scrap arrives in bursts around deadlines. We have not tested this against earlier years.

What this means for you

Kabadiwalas and aggregators: A lot of 1,049.4 tonnes is far larger than most yards handle. Watch who wins lots near you, and offer cutting, sorting, storage or transport to the winner. This is our suggestion.

Traders and steel makers: Open the official listing before a lot closes and read the grade, condition, inspection dates and deposit. Compare any reserve price shown with the rates on our price pages.

Non-ferrous and e-waste recyclers: Railway e-waste is small, at 46.85 tonnes and ₹1.11 crore in one zone's report. Rolling stock is sold as a lot, so check what the listing includes before you bid. Our e-waste section tracks related news.

Anyone tracking prices: Large sale days can bring a burst of ferrous material to the market. No price effect has been shown.

What to watch

1. 31 October 2026: Special Campaign 6.0 ends. Railways' goal is ₹600 crore from scrap and e-waste, and it stood at ₹425.06 crore on 19 October.
2. After 31 October: the final campaign scrap total, to compare with about ₹833.92 crore for all of Campaign 5.
3. Zone reports for October: Western Railway had reached about ₹320 crore of its annual target of more than ₹500 crore by 16 October.
4. Closing dates on our Auctions page: 217 tenders closed on 19 October alone, and 974 more were due within seven days.

The bottom line

The government's scrap campaign is largely a railway story. ₹425.06 crore in under three weeks, on top of more than ₹6,700 crore a year, makes Railways a very large seller of rail, iron and rolling stock. The lots are listed on public platforms. The useful step is to read them before they close.