BRINGING THE MODAL SHIFT

The freight corridors will take off 70 per cent of freight load in the form of goods trains from the passenger network and the logistics cost will be trimmed by 50 per cent

Over the past many decades since 1950s, the Indian Railways has been losing market share to road transport because of inadequate infrastructure and poor services. In 1970, railway was carrying nearly 86 per cent of the total freight volume, which has now come down to 33 per cent. On the other hand, freight traffic by road has jumped from 14 per cent to 59 per cent. Now compare this with countries like China and United States, where railway freight share is 47 per cent and 48 per cent respectively. As on date, 90 per cent of India's passenger traffic and 65 per cent of its freight uses road transport and these shares are growing, as per DFCCIL. India is placed at fourth position in the world in railway freight traffic after China, US and Russia.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is developing the eastern and western DFCs as part of the Golden Quadrilateral connecting New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. While the western sector will be connecting all major ports, including Mumbai, Kandla, Pipavav and Mundra, the eastern corridor will connect most of the coalfields. The haulage charges on DFCs network will be 50 per cent lower compared to the freight tariff in the Indian Railways, said Anurag Sachan, MD, DFCCIL.