Lok Sabha Question No. 4688 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Share in Freight Movement
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Navneet Ravi Rana

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO. 4688 TO BE ANSWERED ON  24.03.2021

SHARE IN FREIGHT MOVEMENT

4688. SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Railways aims to increase its share in freight movement from the present 27 per cent to 45 per cent by 2030 and, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to monitor the train services; and

(c) the initiative(s) taken/being taken by the Government to ascertain the requirements from the State Governments for running more trains in their respective States?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (c) : A Statement is laid down on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4688 BY SHRIMATI NAVNEET RAVI RANA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.03.2021 REGARDING SHARE IN FREIGHT MOVEMENT

- (a) : Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) for India - 2030. The  Plan  is  to  create  a  'future  ready'  Railway  system  by  2030. The objective of the Plan is to create capacity ahead of demand, which in turn would  also  cater  to  future  growth  in  demand  right  up  to  2050  and  also increase  the  modal  share  of  Railways  to  45%  in  freight  traffic  and  to continue to sustain it. The draft plan has been put up in the public domain (The  Indian  Railways  website)  and  is  also  being  circulated  amongst stakeholders for comments/remarks.
- (b) :  The  Indian  Railways  utilizes  state  of  the  art  technology  for  monitoring train services. Freight train services are monitored  through Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) and for passenger trains, the system used is Coaching Operations Information System (COIS), both of which use Information  Technology  as  an  aid  to  decision-making  and  ultimately improving train  services.  The  FOIS  &  COIS  enable  optimum  utilization  of costly assets and resources by improving the distribution of rolling stock along with scheduling/time tabling and routing of trains in order to meet customer demand. The FOIS & COIS provides continuous train monitoring and instant access to information regarding status of trains to customers. For continuous tracking of trains and monitoring them on a real time basis, the  Railways  have  a  large  number  of  control  offices  distributed  over  the network. The railway control offices use comprehensive software, Control Office  Application  (COA),  for  charting  and  planning  train  services  on  a section. The COA is integrated to both FOIS & COIS, so that monitoring of train services and decision-making is done on a real time basis.
- (c) :  In  order  to  run  trains  to  meet  the  commodity  specific  demand  of  State Governments,  a  tripartite  procedure  has  been  established.  The  State Governments requirements/demands for commodities such as food, fertilizer, POL, coal for power, minerals etc. is first assessed by the nodal

central  agency  such  as  Ministry  of  Food  &  Civil  Supplies,  Department  of Fertilizer,  Ministry  of  Petroleum,  Ministry  of  Coal,  Ministry  of  Power, Ministry  of  Mines  etc.  and  the  concerned  nodal  central  agency  then  coordinates with the Ministry of Railways for running of freight trains to meet the State Governments requirements. The Indian Railways has always taken the initiative in running more passenger and freight trains to meet the State Governments requirements as well as providing relief during disasters, calamities, melas, fares etc. In addition the Indian Railways runs pilgrims trains on demand made by State Governments. ******