Indian Railways issues draft National Rail Plan to create capacity by 2030

In order to address the inadequacies of capacity constraints and improve its modal share in total freight ecosystem of the country, Indian Railways on Friday issued draft National Rail Plan.

“A long term strategic plan called the National Rail Plan has been developed to plan infrastructural capacity enhancement along with strategies to increase modal share of the Railways. The National Rail Plan will be a common platform for all future infrastructural, business and financial planning of the Railways. This plan is being circulated among various Ministries for their views now. Railways aim to finalise the final plan by January 2021,” said Ministry of Railways in an official release.

The objective of the plan is:

• To create capacity ahead of demand by 2030, which in turn would cater to growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways from 27% currently to 45% in freight by 2030 as part of a national commitment to reduce carbon emission and to continue to sustain it. Net zero carbon emission by 2030.

• To assess the actual demand in freight and passenger sectors, a yearlong survey was conducted over hundred representative locations by survey teams spread all over the country.

• Forecast growth of traffic in both freight and passenger year on year up to 2030 and on a decadal basis up to 2050.

• Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45% by 2030.