Rail transport instead of long-haul road carriage?

The recent announcement by Maruti Suzuki that it has dispatched 7.2 lakh vehicles on rail rakes in five years has once again put under spotlight the issue of rising preference for rail transport over long-haul road carriage. In FY2020-21, more than 1.8 lakh vehicles were dispatched by rail, accounting for nearly 13 per cent of the company’s total sales.

This would account for the highest-ever railway dispatch by the company, as against nearly 88,000 units in FY2016-17. The push for rail and inland water logistics is nothing new in India. Neither are the efforts being taken to ensure that the projects are successful. While a young transporter told CV magazine that rail will never replace longhaul road transport once the Covid-19 wave passes and rail travel of people resumes normalcy, the rail versus long-haul road transport is claimed to have the background of the government’s efforts to bring down the freight rates in the country. The new axles norms in 2018 on the back of the transporter’s strike is also claimed to be yet another effort to bring down the freight rates. On the condition of not revealing his name, a transporter drew attention to issues like highway harassment and bribes, high fuel and commodity prices (tyre, oil, AdBlue, etc.), higher acquisition cost of the (BSVI) vehicle and higher compliance requirements as the factors that have been limiting the transporters ability to operate at lower freight rates. Mentioned an industry source that the thinking behind encouraging higher rail freight is to lower the pollution levels. An effort, he added, is to have less vehicles moving more cargo on the road, saving fuel and lowering the collective carbon footprint. Argued another source, that the flexibility offered by road transport even on a long-haul basis is advantageous. The ability of a truck to facilitate a door step delivery and pickup is something that the railways will never be able to do, he added.