(a) whether the Railways’ freight rates are higher than other modes of transport for several commodities and if so, the details thereof ;
(b) whether the Railways freight traffic has massively declined in last 50 years and if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor; and
(c) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 539 BY SHRIMATI NUSRAT JAHAN RUHI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.11.2019 REGARDING FREIGHT RATES
(a) Indian Railways’ freight rates are explicitly notified in the form of a firm structure, based on the classification of commodities transported, social impact of essential commodities and its lead etc. However, the tariff structure prevalent on other modes of transports such as roadways, are not in public domain. Therefore any comparison with the Railway freight tariff structure shall not be accurate.
(b) No, Sir. Indian Railways’ freight business has increased by seven times approximately in the last fifty years i.e. from 167.39 million tonnes in 1970-71 to 1159.55 million tonnes in 2017-18.
(c) A number of steps have been taken by Indian Railways to increase its freight business. Major steps include adoption of rake load concept, containerization, designing new wagons with higher payload, Long Term Tariff Contract Policy, Own Your Wagon Scheme, Private Freight Terminal Policy and Freight Incentive Schemes.
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