A study on enhancing cargo movement through Indian railways

Abstract

Indian Railways (IR), one of the largest rail networks globally, has seen a significant decline in its freight transport share—from 85% in 1951 to just 27–28% by 2024. This decline not only impacts the economic competitiveness of IR but also challenges India’s environmental goals, particularly its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. To address this issue, the Government of India has set ambitious targets under the National Rail Plan (NRP), aiming for a port by 2030–31 and a near-term goal of 3,000 million tonnes (MT) of freight loading by 2027. This study examines the key challenges and opportunities for IR to regain its freight dominance. It identifies the core issues—capacity constraints, policy inefficiencies, competitiveness against road transport, and the need for regulatory reform. The study is built around three primary pillars: terminal infrastructure, freight marketing policies, and tariff structures. It draws heavily from secondary data, including government reports and TERI’s commodity-specific studies, and uses both qualitative and quantitative methods for analysis.