Railway,Roades And Ports of India
Impact on The Indian economy
The Indian Railways contributes to India’s economic development, accounting for about one per cent of the GNP and the backbone of freight needs of the core sector. It accounts for six per cent of the total employment in the organised sector directly and an additional 2.5 per cent indirectly through its dependent organisations.
Road transport is the second important mode of transport in India. It covers every corner of the country which the railway transport even could not cover. Road transport provides the basic infrastructural facilities to both the agricultural and industrial sector of the country.
Some of the important socio- economic benefits of ports are:
- Fuels economic development – They are important links of hinterlands to points overseas. They facilitate movement of goods to and from hinterland. They increase international trade ( both exports and import).
- Development of cities – Most of the world’s major cities are port cities. Ports spur the economic activities around them like banking, finance, Insurance, logistic etc.
- Increase in Employment –Ports increase employment both directly and indirectly. Direct employment refers to employment in port related activities. Indirect employment increases due to increased industrialization and increase in other services like banking and insurance.
- Relatively Environment friendly –When compared to other transportation systems, railway transportation requires twice as much energy consumption, while road transportation requires ten times as much as sea conveyance.
- Increase world Economic Integration –Globalization has been partially successful due to cheap transportation facilitated by ports.
- Development of Infrastructure – Increase the economic activity between hinterland and ports lead to development of infrastructure including railways, roads & inland waterways.
Indian Railway
Introduction
Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest railway network consists of freight, passengers, tourist, Suburban rail systems, toy train and luxury trains. IR has 4,337 operating railway stations,operates on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges. Indian Railways is divided into 16 zones and Locomotives are consist of electric and diesel locomotives.
- Project Planning and Implementation
- Indian Railways entered the Billion Club in freight loading in 2012-13 by achieving 1,008 million tonnes of originating loading. The loading target fixed for 2014-15 is 1,105 million tonnes which is 4.9% higher than the achievement of 2013-14. The XIIth Plan projections of freight loading in the terminal year of the Plan (2016-17) are 1,405 million tonnes.
- Indian Railways carried 8,425.6 million passengers in 2013-14 which is about 1,430 million higher than the population of the world put together. The annual target for passenger traffic in 2014-15 is 8,645 million, which is 2.6% higher than in 2013-14. The XIIth Plan target is 11,710 million passengers in the terminal year of the Plan.
The Challenges
- As the growth in the economy picks up in the years to come, IR will have a challenging task ahead because of line and terminal capacity constraints in transporting the incremental traffic. Therefore, there is need for significant investment in the network, especially the HDN routes and its feeder and other important routes
2.There is a large shelf of pending projects which is estimated at Rs. 4,91,510 crore on the basis of originally estimated costs Of these, fund requirement for the prioritized works such as doubling, new lines, gauge conversion, traffic facilities, signal & telecom works, workshops and electrification is estimated at Rs 2,08,054 crore
Structure of IR’s finances:
The structure of IR’s finances is such that they are divided into revenue and capital expenditures.While revenue expenditure takes care of the day to day and operational working expenses, inclusive of debt servicing and dividend payment, capital expenditures take care of IR’s investments inclusive of repair and renewals. There are three streams that comprise capital expenditure; these are Gross Budgetary Support from the Ministry of Finance, internal generation of resources and leasing from IRFC.
Indian Roads
Introduction
India has the second largest road network across the world at 4.7 million km. This road network transports more than 60 per cent of all goods in the country and 85 per cent of India’s total passenger traffic. Road transportation has gradually increased over the years with the improvement in connectivity between cities, towns and villages in the country.
Key Investments/Developments
1.The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) has been awarded a contract to build five all-weather access tunnels worth Rs 23,000 crore (US$ 3.57 billion) in Jammu and Kashmir by 2024.
2.Abertis Infraestructuras SA, a Spanish infrastructure firm, has agreed to buy two toll road assets in operation in South India from Macquarie Group for Rs 1,000 crore(US$ 150 million) to scale up its presence in India
Ports of India
Introduction
The nine coastal Indian states Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal are home to all major and minor ports of India. The long coastline of India forms one of the biggest piece of land into a body of water,These twelve major Indian Ports are handle a large volume of cargo traffic and container traffic. There are total 13 major sea ports of India,out of 12 are government and one, Ennore port of Chennai is the corporate one. Ennore Port is one of the major port of India located at Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu state along with Kakinada Port and private Krishnapatnam Port and Mundra Port
Key Policy Development
1:No approval required for foreign equity up to 51 per cent in projects providing supporting
services to water transport
2:Automatic approval of foreign equity up to 100 per cent in construction and maintenance of ports and harbours. However, the proposal needs to be referred to FIPB for investments exceeding Rs 15 billion.
3: Open tenders to be invited for private sector participation on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis
4: Permission granted for formation of joint ventures between Major Ports and foreign ports, Major Ports and Non-Major Ports, and Major Ports and companies
Challenges:
- Geograhical: Heavy silting as seen in riverine ports like Haldia.
- Technological: Inadequate dredging capacities. Poor mechanization and manual handling of critical processes Eg in Paradip port
- Infrastructural: Congestion of roads connecting the port leading to time delays as seen in JLN port Underutilization of physical infrastructure of the ports Eg in Cochin port.
- Policy and regulatory issues: Currently the ports operate on “Trust Model” where government is the owner and operator of the port. Non-uniform tariff structure (TAMP) which makes some ports uncompetitive High turnaround time is as much as 3-4 days compared to average time of 6-7hrs in other developed ports because of cumbersome documentation and clearance.
Infrastructure Development- Roads, Rails (Including Airways and Ports)
- The availability of efficient infrastructure services is an important determinant of the pace of market development and output growth.
- Historically, the infrastructure sector has been one of the key drivers of growth of the Indian economy and has shown positive growth in the current reporting year as well.
- Development of the infrastructure sector has been a priority area for the government and has witnessed enhanced public investment.
- Many reforms have been initiated in the infrastructure sector, resulting in robust growth in most of the sectors.
- Major infrastructure sectors, namely power, road, railways, civil aviation, ports and telecommunication, have performed better during the year.
- The sector is highly responsible for propelling India’s overall development and enjoys intense focus from Government for initiating policies that would ensure time-bound creation of world class infrastructure in the country.
- Infrastructure sector includes power, bridges, dams, roads and urban infrastructure development.
- In 2016, India jumped 19 places in World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016, to rank 35th amongst 160 countries
Road Sector
- Road transport is considered to be one of the most cost effective and preferred modes of transport, both for freight and passengers, keeping in view its level of penetration and last mile connectivity in populated areas.
- A good road network is vital to the economic development and social integration of the country.
- It provides connectivity to remote areas, accessibility to markets, schools, and hospitals; and opens up backward regions to trade and investment.
- Roads also play an important role in inter-modal transport development, establishing links with airports, railway stations, and ports.
- The capacity of National Highways in terms of handling traffic (passenger and goods) needs to be in pace with the industrial growth. India has one of the largest road networks of over 54.72 lakh km.
- It comprises National Highways, Expressways, State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District Roads and Village Roads with following length distribution:
- National Highways / Expressway 1,03,933 km
- State Highways 1,61,487 km
- Other Roads 52,07,044km
- Total 54,72,464 km
National Highway Authority of India
- National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been set up by an Act of the Parliament viz. The National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988.
- It has been entrusted with the National Highways Development Project, along with other projects (Special Accelerated Road Development Plan –North East & Special Projects in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal). This brings under its purview 48590 kms of National Highways as on 31.03.2016.
Vision of NHAI
To meet the Nation’s need for the provision and maintenance of National Highways network to global standards and to meet the user’s expectations in the most time bound and cost effective manner, within the strategic policy framework set by the Government of India and thus promote economic well-being and quality of life of the people.
Mission of NHAI
- To develop, maintain and manage National Highways vested in it by the Central Government.
- To regulate and control the plying of vehicles on National Highways for its proper management.
- To develop and provide consultancy and construction services in India and abroad, and carry out research activities in relation to the development, maintenance and management of highways or any other facilities there at.
- To advise the Central Government on matters relating to highways.
- To assist on such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon, any State Government in the formulation and implementation of schemes for highway development.
Rail Sector
Interesting facts about India Railways
- Indian Railways started its service 161 years ago on 16 April 1853 when the first passenger train was run over a stretch of 33 kilometres from Mumbai to Thane. The train with 14 railway carriages, carrying around 400 guests, left Bori Bunder at 3:30 p.m. that day. It was declared a public holiday then.
- Nationalised in 1951, Indian Railways is today the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest network operated under a single management. It has 115,000 km of track length. It runs 12,617 trains to carry over 23 million passengers daily – equivalent to moving the entire population of Australia – connecting more than 7,172 stations.
- Railways runs more than 7,421 freight trains carrying 3 million tonnes (MT) of freight every day. It has entered a select club of railways that includes China, Russia and USA in carrying more than one billion tons of freight annually. Indian Railways has over 239,281 freight wagons, 59,713 passenger coaches and 9,549 locomotives.
- A separate budget for the Railways has its genesis in the recommendations of the 10-member Acworth Committee in 1920-21, headed by British railway economist William Acworth. Following his report, the railway finances of India were separated from the general government finances in 1924.
- In the post-Independence era, railways accounted for 75% of public transport and 90% of freight. Hence, the need for a separate budget. Today, in contrast, the share has reduced to 15% and 30%.
- The first live telecast of railway budget took place on 24 March 1994. Lalu Prasad Yadav, who remained Railway Minister from 2004 to May 2009 presented the railway budget six times in a row.
- In 2000, Mamata Banerjee, who is the current Chief Minister of West Bengal, became the first woman Railway Minister. In 2002, she also became the first female railway minister to present the railway budget. Additionally, she holds the record of being the only woman who presented the railway budget for two different governments in the centre (NDA and UPA).
- India’s fastest train has successfully completed a trial run at 160 km per hour. In a few months, with the rollout of the first semi-high speed train, passengers will be able to travel between Delhi and Agra in just 90 minutes, cutting the journey time by 30 minutes.
- The New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi is currently the fastest train on the Indian Railways network. It reaches a maximum speed of 150 kmph on the Faridabad-Agra section. The Metupalayam-Ooty Nilgiri Passenger train, which runs at an average speed of 10 kmph, is the slowest train.
- The New Delhi Railway Station has secured a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world’s largest Route Relay Interlocking System. This system is put to use where multiple tracks are interlocked. It helps divert train movements during periods of high traffic volumes.
- With over 1.4 million employees on its rolls, Indian Railways is the world’s seventh largest employer after the US Department of Defence, the Chinese Army, Wal-Mart, China National Petroleum, State Grid of China and British Health Service, according to The Economist.
- The renovated platform at Gorakhpur Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh has become the world’s longest, measuring 1,366 meter. Until recently, Kharagpur in West Bengal was the longest platform at 1,072 meter, followed by State Street Center subway station in Chicago at 1,067meter.
- Indian Railways is building the world’s highest railway bridge-five times the height of Qutub Minar and 35 meters taller than Eiffel Tower. It will come up over the Chenab river on the under construction rail link to the Kashmir Valley. The bridge will rise 359 meters over the Chenab on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project. Currently, the world’s tallest rail bridge runs over France’s Tarn river.
- Indian Railways’ longest tunnel is Pir Panjal that links Kashmir Valley with Banihal in Jammu. It runs for a distance of over 11.2 km. The train with the longest route is Vivek Express. Running between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, it covers 4,286 km in around 82 hours and 30 minutes.
- Toilets were introduced on Indian Railways in 1909, more than half a century after the start of operations. Indian Railways started computerized reservation in New Delhi in 1986.
- Station with the shortest name is Ib in Odisha. Venkatanarasimharajuvariipeta is the station with the longest name (29 letters). This is sometimes spelled with ‘Sri’ prefixed.
- Four sites of Indian Railways have been declared as “World Heritage sites” by the UNESCO. These are Darjeeling, Himalayan Railway inscribed in 1999, Mumbai CST Building inscribed in 2004, Neelgiri Mountain Railways inscribed in 2005 and Kalka-Shimla Railways inscribed in 2008.
- The Fairy Queen, plying between New Delhi and Alwar in Rajasthan, is the oldest functioning steam engine in the world. It has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and has also received the Heritage Award from the International Tourist Bureau, Berlin.
Airports
- There are a total of 454 airports in India, out of which around 90 are open for commercial services and 16 are designated as international airports.
- Delhi and Mumbai are by far the busiest airports in India, carrying almost 2.5 times traffic as the next busiest airport.
- Air traffic has increased rapidly in the last decade, although this has slowed down in the last few years.
- During the period 2007-08 to 2012-13, Passenger traffic and Freight traffic grew at a cumulative annual growth rate of 6.4% and 5.0% respectively. Indians are still flying in much greater numbers.
- However, a number of Indian airlines have faced challenging market conditions in the recent years, and the rate of growth is likely to be significantly less than initially projected, estimates suggest that passenger traffic is expected to grow to 320 million by 2022-23 (an annual cumulative growth rate of 8.44%).
- It is anticipated by the civil aviation ministry that domestic cargo will grow by 8 times during the period 2009-10 to 2031-32 from its level of 2009-10 whereas international cargo will grow by 7.6 times.
- The growth so achieved has put tremendous pressure on current airport infrastructure in the country.
- The Indian Government has projected that an investment of around US$ 12 billion in the next five year plan will be needed to help cope with additional demand, and private sector participation is expected to play a key role.
- 75% of the investment envisaged in the next five year plan is expected to be contributed by private sector.
- The private sector has already invested heavily to upgrade the airport infrastructure in several cases, with private participation in recent years at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. Greenfield airport projects are planned in emerging Tier II cities such as Goa, Pune, Navi Mumbai, and Kannur.
- Further, 35 non-metro airports are proposed for development, which provide excellent avenues for private contracting and bringing in international technologies for construction.
Ports
- India is blessed with a coastline of more than 7500 kms and countess opportunities for natural ports.
- Ports in India are classified as Major and Non-Major Ports. There are currently 13 Major ports in India, out of which are under the jurisdiction of Central Government of India.
- Additionally, there are more than 180 non-major ports governed by the state governments. However, only about 60 of these non-major ports are currently operational.
- The eastern coast of India generally deals with Bulk Cargo, while the western coast deals majorly in containerized cargo transport.
- Ports in India handle more than 90% of the country’s trade by weight. Overall Indian ports handled close to 1 Billion MT of cargo in 2012-13. Port traffic expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% to reach 2500 million tonnes by 2019-20, with non-major ports expected to lead the growth and ease capacity constraints of Major Ports.
- 43 port modernization and expansion projects are currently under implementation with an estimated cost US$ 2 billion. These projects are expected to provide capacity addition of about 220 MT.
- Current capacity of major ports in India is 745 MMT against the traffic of 545.79 MMT 2012-13, giving them a capacity utilization of 73%. India’s existing ports infrastructure is not sufficient to handle the increased loads, even where ports have already been modernised.
- There are capacity constraints with containerization level at only 25% as compared to global average of 60-70%. Further, ports face huge congestion and average time for clearing import-export cargo is about 19 days.
- This is due to bottlenecks at almost all levels of the chain, including cargo handling and offtake capacities of road/ Improving transport networks is just one of many challenges currently facing India’s ports, which have seen massive swells in the amount of goods transported.
- In addition to improving road and rail connections, projects related to port development (construction of jetties, berths, container terminals, deepening of channels to improve draft, etc.), will provide major opportunities for construction firms
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