News

           NEW DELHI, DEC 30: Out of the total inter-regional traffic movement in the country, the Indian Railways accounted for 30pc of the total volumes of traffic, while the highways accounted for 61 pc of the traffic. This is according to the RITES draft final report 2009. commissioned by the planning Commission.

          According to the report, in 2007-08, out of total originating traffic of 2555.35 million tonnes (mt), the Railways 30.08 pc (768.7 mt) share of the cargo, highways, -61 pc (1558.9mt),  coastal shipping mode -2.31 pc (59.1mt), pipelines-4.44 pc (113.5mt), inland water transport-2.15pc (54.9mt) and airlines-0.01 pc (0.28 mt) share of the cargo.

          “Even though the traffic volumes has gone up over the years the rail share-particularly in freight transport-has gone down steadily in the past few decades,” the Indian Railways’ Whitepaper has stated.

             In 1986-87, out of the total interregional cargo of 484.9 mt, the Railways-53 pc share, highways -46 pc (224 mt), and coastal shipping accounted for-1 pc (5.5mt share of the total cargo.

            But, in case the parameter  for comparison is changed to net tonne kilometres (NTKM), the Railways (36.06pc) highways (50.12 pc), coastal shipping (7.48pc) and inland water transport (0.24 pc) share of the cargo.

             NTKM  reflects both the tonnage and distance covered by the cargo, So, the share of Railways in NTKM  terms is relatively higher because Railways has an advantage in long distance leads against the highways.