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Context

• Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) for India – 2030.
• The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030.

 

Aim

• The NRP is aimed to formulate strategies to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%.

 

Freight: Goods or cargo that are transported by train.

 

Status of Freight Railways in India

Findings of NITI Aayog

• Rail’s share in freight transportation in India has been declining since 1951.
• In 2020, it stood at merely 18% as compared to road’s share of 71%. This is due to insufficient rail capacity, especially on certain high-density routes.
• As off 2021 there are just 8,479 freight trains.
• Road-based freight transport, which is more energy and emission intensive, has grown at the expense of the Indian Railways.

Other

• The present modal share of railways in freight is just 28 percent.
• India's rail freight quantum as part of its total freight movement – including air, water and road is only 36 per cent vis-a-vis China's 47 per cent and the United States' 48 per cent.
• The Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals which comprise merely 16 per cent of India’s rail route length carry about 52 per cent of the nation’s passengers and 58 per cent of freight.
• The national highways along these corridors are less than 0.5 per cent of India’s highway network but carry 40 per cent of the nation’s road freight. It shows that these particular rail and road stretches are overloaded thereby leading to congestion and delays.

Importance of Freight Railways

• Rail has lower fuel costs compared to road transport, especially when shipping a high volume of freight.
• Rail also has fewer costs associated with drivers and typically has better costs for drop trailer programs.
• Shipping via train is more environmentally friendly. Trains burn less fuel per ton mile than trucks.
• Trains can handle high volumes of freight. In fact, one double-stacked train can hold approximately the same amount as 280 trucks. Its capacity is elastic which can easily be increased by adding more wagons. Also, it is a cheaper mode of transport.
• Railways have standardized transit schedules and don’t share their tracks with the public like trucks do with the road. For that reason, trains aren’t hindered by traffic and weather the same way trucks are.
• Railway is the safest form of transport. The chances of accidents and breakdowns of railways are minimum as compared to other modes of transport
• Using rail transport as part of an intermodal strategy can have significant benefits. Intermodal is the use of two or more modes for transporting freight. When combining road and rail, trains are used for the long-haul portion of the shipment. Trucks are used to bring freight from the origin to the terminal and then from the terminal to the destination, which is referred to as drayage.

Steps taken by the Government to boost Rail Freight

• 657 Km of Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) has been commissioned in 2020-21.
• Speed of Freight Trains has been doubled in 2020-21 to 46 kmph from 23 kmph in earlier years.
• Indigenously manufactured 12000 HP Electric locomotive have been introduced for freight movement.
• Real Time Information System (RTIS) has been provided in 2700 electric locomotives for real time tracking of trains.
• 3 New Dedicated Freight Corridors have been identified namely –

1. East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada,
2. East – West Corridor from Bhusawal to Kharagpur to Dankuni and
3. North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada.

• Vision 2024 document has been prepared to develop infrastructure by 2024 to enhance model share of Indian railways in freight transportation.
• Capacity enhancement work like doubling/Multitracking have been prioritized into critical and Super Critical projects for time bound completion.
• At least 505 projects - including 263 doubling, 185 new lines and 57 gauge conversion - are under various stages of execution.
• Dedicated Kisan Rail initiative that allows the movement of perishables such as fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat, dairy and fishery products from production/surplus regions to consumption/deficient regions.
• And finally, this National rail Plan (NRP) 2030 has been developed with a view to develop infrastructure by 2030 to cater to the traffic requirements upto 2050 and increase modal share of rail in freight to 45%.

 

Key Objectives of National Rail Plan 2030

The key objectives of the National Rail Plan are:- 

• Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%.
• Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph.
• As part of the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as

1. 100% electrification,
2. multi-tracking of congested routes,
3. upgradation of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes,
4. upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.

• Identify new Dedicated Freight Corridors.
• Identify new High Speed Rail Corridors.
• Assess rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
• Assess Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
• Assess the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
• Sustained involvement of the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development/operations of track infrastructure etc.
• 58 Super critical Projects of a total length of 3750 kms and 68 Critical Projects of a total length of 6913 kms, have been identified for completion by 2024.

 

Way Ahead

• As national freight activity grows about five-fold by 2050, India’s freight transport ecosystem has a critical role to play in supporting India’s ambitious priorities which include global competitiveness, job growth, urban and rural livelihoods, and clean air and environment.
• Improved rail mode share, increased logistics efficiency and clean vehicles are the building blocks for a transformative freight paradigm that is within India’s reach.
• Need of the hour:

1. Improving existing network infrastructure by increasing axle loads,
2. increasing train length,
3. enabling trains to move faster,
4. adding new network capacity by developing specialized heavy-haul corridors
5. more dedicated freight corridors and
6. identifying and upgrading corridors with high potential for intermodal transport
7. ensuring better modal integration across rail, road, and water.

• This freight paradigm will be cost-effective with reduced transport costs, clean and optimized with improved mode share and operational efficiency.

 

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1806617