As Indian Railways is the growth engine of the nation, NRP is aimed to reform Railways to make it more efficient, greener and modern which will translate into cheaper, safer and assured mode of transport to the common man be it in the passenger or freight segment. To achieve this, they are formulating strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%, and are reducing transit time of freight by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph.
As part of the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as 100% electrification, multi-tracking of congested routes, upgrading of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.
Other measures include identifying new Dedicated Freight Corridors and High Speed Rail Corridors, assessing rolling stock requirements for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirements for freight, assessing Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share, ensuring sustained involvement from the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, and the development and operations of track infrastructure.
