What is rail freight?Freight transportation is the transportation and movement of goods from one point to

another; it includes all operation of goods, vehicles and movement of goods. Several different modes of transportation exist: pipeline, road transport, air transport, ship transport and rail transport.

Rail freight is used generically to refer to freight, cargo or goods transported by railways, which terms are variously used in different regions of the world. It does not include the parcels or baggage transport services associated with railway passenger services.

Rail freight provider is used generically to refer to any entity that provides railway freight train services whether private or public, incorporated under company law or established as a state-owned enterprise, and irrespective of whether the provider is a stand-alone train operating entity or vertically integrated with a rail infrastructure and/or passenger services provider. However, the different structural forms are an important topic in their own right and are addressed in specific sections of the text. Freight customer, is used generically to those companies on behalf of whom rail freight companies haul freight: they may be the owners of the freight, the receivers of the freight, or a third party freight forwarding or logistics company. Tonnes refer to metric tonnes (often called metric tons). Most railways around the world measure freight volumes in these units. However, some statistics for US railways are provided publicly in short tons (about 10 percent less mass than tonnes) and have been converted to tonnes in this paper unless otherwise stated. Finally, national statistics and comparative statistics given are for ‘public railways’ or common user railways that are generally available to the public for the carriage of a variety of freight types (whether or not the railways are owned by the public sector). The statistics exclude isolated rail networks that are not generally available for public carriage of goods such as exclusive-use mining railways; industrial railways (e.g. railways wholly within industrial complexes); agricultural railways (e.g. sugar-cane railways); or dedicated military railways.

Rail freight transport includes all freight transportation carried by rail. Several different forms of rail freight transportation exist and in general it is characterized by three different products. The Rail Freight operators generally propose three means of transportation

Segment Description Commodities Share of volume

Single Wagon

The client wants to transport a few wagons

Chemicals, Vehicles and Machinery

50 %

Full / Block Train

The client has enough goods to fill a train (600 meter or 24 4-axle wagons)

Coal and Steel, Construction materials

35 %

Intermodal Transportation by container: the container or trailer is lifted on the wagon

Finished goods, Containerized goods

15 %

Overview [edit]Traditionally, large shippers build factories and warehouses near rail lines and have

a section of track on their property called a siding where goods are loaded on to or unloaded from rail cars. Other shippers have their goods hauled (drayed) by wagon or truck to or from a goods station (freight station in US). Smaller locomotives transfer the rail cars from the sidings and goods stations to a classification yard, where each car is coupled to one of several long distance trains being assembled there, depending on that car's destination. When long enough, or based on a schedule, each long distance train is then dispatched to another classification yard. At the next classification yard, cars are resorted. Those that are destined for stations served by that yard are assigned to local trains for delivery. Others are reassembled into trains heading to classification yards closer to their final destination. A single car might be reclassified or switched in several yards before reaching its final destination, a process that made rail freight slow and increased costs. Many freight rail operators are trying to reduce these costs by reducing or eliminating switching in classification yards through techniques such as unit trains and containerization.[1] In many countries, railroads have been built to haul one commodity, such as coal or ore, from an inland point to a port.

The Spatial Economy of Rail Transportation:The ability of trains to haul large quantities of goods and significant numbers

of people over long distances is the mode’s primary asset. Once the cars have been assembled or the passengers have boarded, trains can offer a high capacity service at a reasonable speed (with some high speed systems). It was this feature that led to the train’s pre-eminence in opening the interior of the continents in the 19th century, and is still its major asset. With containerized unit trains, economies of scale can be readily been achieved while road have limited ability to benefit from this advantage. Each additional container being carried by road involves the same marginal cost increase, while for rail there is a declining marginal cost per additional container until the unit train size is reached. The same applies to passengers as for road transportation, an additional movement usually involves an additional vehicle, while for rail there is declining marginal costs as a passenger train gets filled. Passenger service is thus effective where population densities are high. Freight traffic is dominated by bulk cargo shipments, agricultural and industrial raw materials in particular. Rail transport is a green inland mode, in that its consumption of energy per unit load per km is lower than road modes. The initial capital costs of rail are high because the construction of rail tracks and the provision of rolling stock are expensive. Historically, the investments have been made by the same source (either governments or the private sector). These expenditures have to be made before any revenues are realized and thus represent important entry barriers that tend to limit the number of operators. It also serves to delay

innovation, compared with road transport, since rail rolling stock has a service life of at least twenty years. This can also be an advantage since the rolling stock is more durable and offer better opportunities at amortization. On average, rail companies need to invest about 45% of their operating revenues each year in capital and maintenance expenses of their infrastructure and equipment. Capital expenditures alone account for about 17% of revenue, while this share is around 3 to 4% for manufacturing activities. One successful strategy to deal with high capital expenditures has been the setting of equipment pools such as TTX in North America that account for about 70% of the intermodal railcar assets used by North American rail companies. Since the end of the 1950s, railway systems in advanced economies have faced an increasing competition from road transport, with varying results. In all cases, the breakeven distance, which is a threshold above which rail becomes most cost effective than road, was changed to the advantage of road transport. The more efficient road transport became, the higher its breakeven distance. In the current context, the breakeven distance between intermodal rail and truck is between 600 and 800 miles (950 and 1,300 km). Under 500 miles (800 km), drayage costs from the terminal usually account for 70% of total costs...In several countries such as China, India, and Japan, rail transportation accounts for the majority of interurban passenger transportation. Among developed countries, there are acute geographical differences in the economic preference of rail transportation. For Europe, China and Japan rail transportation is still very important, mainly for passenger transportation, but has declined over the last decades. High-speed passenger rail projects are however improving its popularity, but the competition was mainly being felt on air transportation services rather than road transport. For North America, rail transportation is strictly related to freight, with passengers playing a marginal role only along a few major urban corridors. Passenger trains are even getting delayed because priority is given to freight. It is only in the northeastern part of the United States that passenger services are running on time since Amtrak (the federally owned passenger rail operator) owns the tracks. Even if rail transportation was primarily developed to service national economies, globalization is having significant impacts on rail freight systems. These impacts are scale specific:

· At the macro scale, new long distance alternatives are emerging in the form of bridges in North America and between Europe and Asia. In North America, rail has been very successful at servicing long distance intermodal markets, underlining the efficiency of rail over long distance and high volume flows.

· At the meso scale, the railway transportation network is influenced by the pattern of energy consumption. Many countries still rely overwhelmingly on foreign suppliers for their source of fuel while other is building major fuel moving transport arteries. Another important trend has been the growing integration of rail and maritime transport systems. Rail transportation has thus become the extension of maritime supply chains. A key issue is the concentration of investments in shaping rail corridors.

· At the micro scale, extended metropolitan regions reveals a specialization of rail traffic as well as a transfer of certain types of commodities from the rail network to the fluvial and road network systems. Railways servicing ports increasingly tend to concentrate container movements. This strategy followed by rail transport operators allows on the one hand, an increase in the delivery of goods and on the other hand, the establishment of door-to-door services through a better distribution of goods among different transport

modes.

Rail freight services are also facing the challenge of improving their reliability, which leads to a fragmentation of the types of services being offered. For conventional rail freight markets such as coal, grain, forest products or chemicals, the priority has consistently been the provision of high capacity and low cost forms of transportation. However, these services were unreliable but could be easily accommodated by stockpiling, a strategy common in the resource sector (e.g. power plants, grain elevators). An emerging freight market for rail mostly concern intermodal services that require a much higher level of reliability, similar to what is expected in trucking. Commercial changes such as large volumes of retail import containerized cargo and just in time manufacturing require high reliability levels. 

Rail Transportation in the 21st Century

Although railways are a product of the industrial revolution, they have been affected by continuous innovations, technical, regulatory and commercial changes which have improved their capacity and efficiency. Rail transportation is thus as important in the 21st century as it was in the late 19th century. One innovation relates to the quality of the rail infrastructure, particularly rail tracks (e.g. better steel, concrete ties), which will determine the operational characteristics of their use such as speed, permitted weight, maintenance and resilience to the environment. Increasing electrification and automation will also improve the efficiency of rail transportation, passenger and freight alike. A few new rail lines are being built, but mainly in developing countries. Railway speed records have constantly improved with the introduction of high speed rail systems. For instance, portions of the French high speed rail system (also known as TGV: Tres Grande Vitesse) can reach speeds up to 515 km/hr. Variable wheel-base axles permit rail transport between different gauges. However, freight trains run at a considerably lower speed, in the range of 30-35 km/hr. In some cases, as the rail system gets more used, operational speed may decline because of congestion. Longer and heavier rail coupled with major engineering achievements allow the suppression of natural obstacles, which enhance network continuity. The Seikan tunnel between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan has a length of 53.8 kilometers while the Channel tunnel between France and England reaches 50.5 kilometers. One of the most technically challenging rail segment ever built was completed in 2006 in China. The 1,142 kilometers line links Golmud in Qinghai province to Lhasa in Tibet. Some parts go through permafrost and altitudes of 16,000 feet, conferring its status of the world's highest rail line. Rail transport has comparative advantages in carrying heavy bulk traffic on specific itineraries over long distances. For instance, a 10 car freight train can carry as much cargo as 600 trucks. Beside its emphasis on safety and reliability, rail transport favors the fast commuting of suburbanites during peak hours and has become an important mode supporting passenger movements in large cities. The global trend involves the closure of unprofitable lines as well as the elimination of several stops. Over the last 50 years, with downsizing of rail transportation, while traffic was moving to other modes, rail companies abandoned lines (or sold them to local rail companies), removed excess terminals and

warehousing capacity and sold off property. The process of rationalization (deregulation) of the rail network is now completed in a number of countries, such as in the United States. This has implied significant labor savings with the reduction of train crews (from 3-4 to 2), more flexible working hours and the usage of subcontractors for construction and maintenance. In addition to energy efficient (the fuel efficiency of locomotives has increased by 68% between 1980 and 2000) and lighter equipment, the usage of double-stack cars has revolutionized rail transportation with additional fuel efficiency and cost reductions of about 40%. Depending on the service and type of commodity carried rail can be 1.9 to 5.5 more energy efficient than trucking. Unit trains, carrying one commodity-type only, allow scale economies and efficiencies in bulk shipments, and double stacking has greatly promoted the advantages of rail for container shipments. Trends concerning cargo transport using trailers on flat cars (TOFC) and containers on flat cars (COFC) well illustrate the increasing adoption of intermodal transport. Still, TOFC services are being phased down and COFC increasingly dominates. An active market for niche services such asRoadrailers mounting truck trailers as train convoys remains. Due to its great versatility, the container is highly favored as such a means of cargo transport; loading trailers unto rail cars is prone to inefficiencies, particularly a much lower load factor than containers. Double-stack rail technology is a major challenge for the rail transport system as it is effective for long distances where additional terminal costs are compensated by lower transport costs. North America has a notable advantage over Europe on this issue since a full double-stacked unit train can carry between 500 and 600 TEU (200 to 300 containers) and can have a length exceeding 10,000 feet (about 3,000 meters). European trains are generally limited to 750 meters while some rail segments can accommodate 850 meters. Further, most railroads were constructed early in the 20th century and have an overhead clearance that is inadequate for the usage of double-stack trains. This is notably the case for tunnels and bridges. Even if improving clearance is a major investment, several rail companies, notably in North America, have invested massively on double-stacking projects. The economies and improved capacity of double-stacking have justified investments of raising the clearance from 5.33 meters (17’6") to 8.1 meters (20’6") along major long distance rail corridors. Europe is less advanced in this process because most of its rail facilities were built in the middle of the 19th century. Clearance thus forbids the usage of double-stacking on most European rail corridors. The emergence of high-speed rail networks and increasing rail speed had significant impacts on passengers transportation, especially in Europe and Japan (high speed freight trains are not currently being considered; see Application 1 for a more detailed overview). For instance, the French TGV has an operational speed of about 300 km/h. High-speed passenger trains require special lines, but can also use the existing lines at a lower speed. In many cases it permitted a separation between rail passenger traffic rolling at high speed and freight traffic using the conventional rail network. The efficiency of both the passengers and freight rail network was thus improved significantly. Since high-speed trains require some time to accelerate and decelerate, the average distance between stations has increased significantly, by-passing several centers of less importance. Over average distances, they have proved to be able to compete effectively with air transportation. Other strategies include improving the speed of existing passenger services without building a high

speed corridor. This involves upgrading the equipment and improving the infrastructure at specific locations along the corridor. The benefits of offering a passenger rail service about 120 km/h can be substantial to improve the quality and efficiency of inter-city services in high density urban regions.

A Diversity of Modes:Transport modes are the means by which people and freight achieve mobility. They fall

into one of three basic types, depending on over what surface they travel – land (road, rail and pipelines), water (shipping), and air. Each mode is characterized by a set of technical, operational and commercial characteristics:

· Road transportation (Concept 2). Road infrastructures are large consumers of space with the lowest level of

physical constraints among transportation modes. However, physiographical constraints are significant in road construction with substantial additional costs to overcome features such as rivers or rugged terrain. While historically road transportation was developed to support non-motorized forms of transportation (walking, domestication of animals and cycling at the end of the 19th century), it is motorization that has shaped the most its development since the beginning of the 20th century. Road transportation has an average operational flexibility as vehicles can serve several purposes but are rarely able to move outside roads. Road transport systems have high maintenance costs, both for the vehicles and infrastructures. They are mainly linked to light industries where rapid movements of freight in small batches are the norm. Yet, with containerization, road transportation has become a crucial link in freight distribution.

· Rail transportation (Concept 3). Railways are composed of a traced path on which wheeled vehicles are bound. In

light of more recent developments, rail transportation also includes monorails and maglev. They have an average level of physical constrains linked to the types of locomotives and a low gradient is required, particularly for freight. Heavy industries are traditionally linked with rail transport systems, although containerization has improved the flexibility of rail transportation by linking it with road and maritime modes. Rail is by far the land transportation mode offering the highest capacity with a 23,000 tons fully loaded coal unit train being the heaviest load ever carried. Gauges, however, vary around the world, often challenging the integration of rail systems.

· Pipelines (Concept 3). Pipeline routes are practically unlimited as they can be laid on land or under

water. The longest gas pipeline links Alberta to Sarnia (Canada), which is 2,911 km in length. The longest oil pipeline is the Transiberian, extending over 9,344 km from the Russian arctic oilfields in eastern Siberia to Western Europe. Physical constraints are low and include the landscape and pergelisol in arctic or subarctic environments. Pipeline construction costs vary according to the diameter and increase proportionally with the distance and with the viscosity of fluids (from gas, low viscosity, to oil, high viscosity). The Trans Alaskan pipeline, which is 1,300 km long, was built under difficult conditions and has to be above ground for most of its path. Pipeline terminals are very important

since they correspond to refineries and harbors.· Maritime transportation (Concept 4).

Because of the physical properties of water conferring buoyancy and limited friction, maritime transportation is the most effective mode to move large quantities of cargo over long distances. Main maritime routes are composed of oceans, coasts, seas, lakes, rivers and channels. However, due to the location of economic activities maritime takes place on specific parts of the maritime space, particularly over the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. The construction of channels locks and dredging are attempts to facilitate maritime circulation by reducing discontinuity. Comprehensive inland waterway systems include Western Europe, the Volga / Don System, St. Lawrence / Great Lakes system, the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Amazon, the Panama / Paraguay and the interior of China. Maritime transportation has high terminal costs, since port infrastructures are among the most expensive to build, maintain and improve. High inventory costs also characterize maritime transportation. More than any other mode, maritime transportation is linked to heavy industries, such as steel and petrochemical facilities adjacent to port sites.

· Air transportation (Concept 5). Air routes are practically unlimited, but they are denser over the North Atlantic,

inside North America and Europe and over the North Pacific. Air transport constraints are multidimensional and include the site (a commercial plane needs about 3,300 meters of runway for landing and takeoff), the climate, fog and aerial currents. Air activities are linked to the tertiary and quaternary sectors, notably finance and tourism, which lean on the long distance mobility of people. More recently, air transportation has been accommodating growing quantities of high value freight and is playing a growing role in global logistics.

· Intermodal transportation (Concept 6). Concerns a variety of modes used in combination so that the respective

advantages of each mode are better exploited. Although intermodal transportation applies for passenger movements, such as the usage of the different, but interconnected modes of a public transit system, it is over freight transportation that the most significant impacts have been observed. Containerization has been a powerful vector of intermodal integration, enabling maritime and land transportation modes to more effectively interconnect.

· Telecommunications. Cover a grey area in terms of if they can be considered as a transport mode since

unlike true transportation, telecommunications often does not have physicality. Yet, they are structured as networks with a practically unlimited capacity with very low constraints, which may include the physiographic and oceanic masses that may impair the setting of cables. They provide for the instantaneous movement of information (speed of light in theory). Wave transmissions, because of their limited coverage, often require substations, such as for cellular phone networks. Satellites are often using a geostationary orbit which is getting crowded. High network costs and low distribution costs characterize many telecommunication networks, which are linked to the tertiary and quaternary sectors (stock markets, business to business information networks, etc.). Telecommunications can provide a substitution for personal movements in some economic sectors.

Modal Competition:Each transportation mode has key operational and commercial advantages and properties.

However, contemporary demand is influenced by integrated transportation systems that require maximum flexibility in the respective use of each mode. As a result, modal competition exists at various degrees and takes several dimensions. Modes can compete or complement one another in terms of cost, speed, accessibility, frequency, safety, comfort, etc. There are three main conditions that insure that some modes are complementing one another:

· Different geographical markets. It is clear that if different markets are involved, modes will permit a continuity

within the transport system, particularly if different scales are concerned, such as between national and international transportation. This requires an interconnection, commonly known as a gateway, where it is possible to transfer from one mode to the other. Intermodal transportation has been particularly relevant to improve the complementarities of different geographical markets.

· Different transport markets. The nature of what is being transported, such as passengers or freight, often

indicates a level of complementarity. Even if the same market area is serviced, it may not be equally accessible depending of the mode used. Thus, in some markets rail and road transportation can be complementary as one may be focusing on passengers and the other on freight.

· Different levels of service. For a similar market and accessibility, two modes that offer a different level of

service will tend to complement another. The most prevailing complementarity concerns costs versus time.

Thus, there is modal competition when there is an overlap in geography, transport and level of service. Cost is one of the most important considerations in modal choice. Because each mode has its own price/performance profile, the actual competition between the modes depends primarily upon the distance traveled, the quantities that have to be shipped and the value of the goods. While maritime transport might offer the lowest variable costs, over short distances and for small bundles of goods, road transport tends to be most competitive. A critical factor is the terminal cost structure for each mode, where the costs (and delays) of loading and unloading the unit impose fixed costs that are incurred independent of the distance traveled. With increasing income levels the propensity for people to travel rises. At the same time, international trade in manufactured goods and parts has increased. These trends in travel demand act differentially upon the modes. Those that offer the faster and more reliable services gain over modes that might offer a lower cost, but slower, alternative. For passenger services, rail has difficulty in meeting the competition of road transport over short distances and aircraft for longer trips. For freight, rail and shipping have suffered from competition from road and air modes for high value shipments. While shipping, pipelines and rail still perform well for bulkier shipments, intense competition over the last thirty years has seen road and air modes capture an important market share of the high revenue-generating goods. Road transport clearly dominates. Although intermodal transportation has opened many opportunities for a complementarity between modes, there is intense competition as companies are now competing over many modes in the transport chain. A growing paradigm thus involves supply chain competition with the modal competition

component occurring over three dimensions:· Modal usage. Competition that involves the comparative advantage of using a specific or

a combination of modes. Distance remains one of the basic determinants of modal usage for passenger transportation. However, for a similar distance, costs, speed and comfort can be significant factors behind the choice of a mode.

· Infrastructure usage. Competition resulting from the presence of freight and passenger traffic on the same itineraries linking the same nodes.

· Market area. Competition being experienced between transport terminals for using new space (terminal relocation or expansion) or capturing new markets (hinterland).

It is generally advocated that a form of modal equality (or modal neutrality) should be part of public policy where each mode would compete based upon its inherent characteristics. Since different transport modes are under different jurisdiction and funding mechanisms, modal equality is conceptually impossible as some modes will always be more advantageous than others. Modal competition is influenced by public policy where one mode could be advantaged over the others. This particularly takes place over government funding of infrastructure and regulation issues. For instance, in the United States the Federal Government would finance 80% of the costs of a highway project, leaving the state government to supply the remaining 20%. For public transit, this share is 50%, while for passenger rail the Federal Government will not provide any funding. Under such circumstances, public policy shapes modal preferences. The technological evolution in the transport industry aims at adapting the transport infrastructures to growing needs and requirements. When a transport mode becomes more advantageous than another over the same route or market, a modal shift is likely to take place. A modal shift involves the growth in the demand of a transport mode at the expense of another, although a modal shift can involve an absolute growth in both of the concerned modes. The comparative advantages behind a modal shift can be in terms of costs, convenience, speed or reliability. For passengers, this involved a transition in modal preferences as incomes went up, such as from collective to individual modes of transportation. For freight, this has implied a shift to faster and more flexible modes when possible and cost effective, namely trucking and air freight. There are important geographical variations in modal competition. The availability of transport infrastructures and networks varies enormously. Some regions possess many different modes that in combination provide a range of transport services that ensure an efficient commercial environment. Thus, in contrast to the situation in the EU, rail freight transport occupies a more important market share in North America but passenger rail has a negligible share. In many parts of the world, however, there are only limited services, and some important modes such as rail may be absent altogether. This limits the choices for people and shippers, and acts to limit accessibility. People and freight are forced to use the only available modes that may not be the most effective to support the mobility needs of passengers or freight. For these reasons, transport provision is seen as a major factor in economic development. Areas with limited modal choices tend to be among the least developed. The developed world, on the other hand possesses a wide range of modes that can provide services to meet the needs of society and the economy. Since 2000 the price of fuel has increased significantly as well as its volatility. All modes are affected, from the individual car owner to the corporation operating a fleet of hundreds of aircraft or ships. The higher costs are being passed on to the customer, either directly, as is the case of shipping where freight rates are climbing, or indirectly as is the case of airlines, where passengers are being charged additional fuel surcharges. These cost increases are

likely to have significant impacts on mobility and trade, as well as on the modal split:· Higher transport costs increase the friction of distance and constrain mobility. As a

major consumer of petroleum the transport industry has to increase rates. Across the board increases causes people to rethink their patterns of movement and companies to adjust their supply and distribution chains.

· Because the impact of higher fuel costs hits the modes differentially, a modal shift is anticipated. Road and air transport are more fuel intensive than the other modes, and so fuel price increases are likely to impact upon them more severely than other modes. This could lead to a shift towards water and rail transport in particular.

· A further impact of fuel price increases is greater fuel economy across the modes. One of the best ways for all modes to reduce consumption is to lower speeds. A future of high energy prices is likely to have a major impact on just-in-time deliveries, and lead to a restructuring of supply chains.

3. Passengers or Freight? There is a complementarity between passenger and freight transport systems. With some exceptions, such as busses and pipelines, most transport modes have developed to handle both freight and passenger traffic. In some cases both are carried in the same vehicle, as for instance in air transport where about 80% of the freight is transported in the cargo holds of passenger aircraft. In others, different types of vehicle have been developed for freight and passenger traffic, but they both share the same road infrastructure, as for example in rail and road traffic. In shipping, passengers and freight used to share the same vessels and often the same terminals. Since the 1950s specialization has occurred, and the two are now quite distinct, except for ferries and some RORO services. The sharing by freight and passengers of a mode is not without difficulties, and indeed some of the major problems confronting transportation occur where the two compete for the use of scare transport infrastructure. For example, trucks in urban areas are seen as a nuisance and a cause of congestion by passenger transport users. Daytime deliveries and double-parked trucks are a particular nuisance. The poor performance of some modes, such as rail, is seen as the outcome of freight and passengers having to share routes. There are also growing interests expressed at using segments of transit systems to move freight, particularly in central areas. This raises the question as to what extent and under which circumstances freight and passengers are compatible. The main advantages of joint operations are:

· High capital costs can be justified and amortized more easily with a diverse revenue stream (rail, airlines, and ferries).

· Maintenance costs can be spread over a wider base (rail, airlines).· The same modes or traction sources can be used for both freight and passengers,

particularly for rail.The main disadvantages of joint operations are:

· Locations of demand rarely match since the origins and destinations of freight flows are usually quite distinct spatially from passenger traffic.

· Frequency of demand is different as for passengers the need is for high frequency service, for freight it tends to be somewhat less critical.

· Timing of service. Demand for passenger services has specific peaks during the day, for

freight it tends to be more evenly spread throughout the day. Several freight operations prefer night services since they insure that shipments arrive at their destination in the morning.

· Traffic balance. On a daily basis passenger flows tend to be in equilibrium, irrespective of the distance involved (e.g. commuting or air transportation). For freight, market imbalances produce empty flows that require the repositioning of assets.

· Reliability. Although freight traffic increasingly demands quality service, for passengers delays (diversion from posted schedules) are unacceptable.

· Sharing routes favors passenger traffic with passenger trains often given priority or trucks excluded from specific areas at certain times of the day.

· Different operational speeds where passengers demand faster service but specific cargo, such as parcel, facing similar requirements.

· Security screening measures for passengers and freight require totally different procedures.

The ongoing separation of passengers and freight on specific gateways and corridors is consequently a likely outcome, involving a growing divergence of flows, modes and terminals.4. A Growing Divergence Passengers and freight are increasingly divergent activities as they reflect different transportation markets. In several modes and across many regions passenger and freight transport is being unbundled:

· Shipping. Mention has been made already how in the maritime sector passenger services have become separated from freight operations. The exception being ferry services where the use of RORO ships on high frequency services adapt to the needs of both market segments. Deep sea passenger travel is now dominated by cruise shipping which has no freight-handling capabilities, and bulk and general cargo ships rarely have an interest or the ability to transport passengers.

· Rail. Most rail systems improved passenger and freight services. Where both segments are maintained the railways give priority to passengers, since rail persists as the dominant mode for inter-city transport in India, China and much of the developing world. In Europe the national rail systems and various levels of government have prioritized passenger service as a means of checking the growth of the automobile, with its resultant problems of congestion and environmental degradation. Significant investments have occurred in improving the comfort of trains and in passenger rail stations, but most notable have been the upgrading of track and equipment in order to achieve higher operational speeds. Freight transport has tended to lose out because of the emphasis on passengers. Because of their lower operational speeds, freight trains are frequently excluded from day-time slots, when passenger trains are most in demand. Overnight journeys may not meet the needs of freight customers. This incompatibility is a factor in the loss of freight business by most rail systems still trying to operate both freight and passenger operations. It is in North America where the separation between freight and passenger rail business is the most extensive. The private railway companies could not compete against the automobile and airline industry for passenger traffic, and consequently withdrew from the passenger business in the 1970s. They were left to operate a freight only system, which has generally been successful, especially with the introduction of intermodality. The passenger business has been taken over by public

agencies, AMTRAK in the US, and VIA Rail in Canada. Both are struggling to survive. A major problem is that they have to lease track age from the freight railways, and thus slower freight trains have priority.

· Roads. Freight and passenger vehicles still share the roads. The growth of freight traffic is increasing road congestion and in many cities concerns are being raised about the presence of trucks. Already, restrictions are in place on truck dimensions and weights in certain parts of cities, and there are growing pressures to limiting truck access to non-daylight hours. Certain highways exclude truck traffic – the parkways in the US for example. These are examples of what is likely to become a growing trend; the need to separate truck from passenger vehicle traffic. Facing chronic congestion around the access points to the port of Rotterdam and at the freight terminals at Schiphol airport, Dutch engineers have worked on feasibility studies of developing separate underground road networks for freight vehicles.

· Air transport. Air transport is the mode where freight and passengers are most integrated. Yet even here a divergence is being noted. The growth of all-freight airlines and the freight-only planes operated by some of the major carriers, such as Singapore Airlines, are heralding a trend. The interests of the shippers, including the timing of the shipments and the destinations, are sometimes better served than in passenger aircraft. The divergence between passengers and freight is also being accentuated by the growing importance of charter and "low-cost" carriers. Their interest in freight is very limited, especially when their business is oriented towards tourism, since tourist destinations tend to be lean freight generating locations.

RAIL FREIGHT: THE GLOBAL LANDSCAPE TRACKS FROM THE PAST:

Technologies define railways but railways have always depended on their integration with other modes. Transport of freight using fixed rails has a very long history. There are examples of vehicles being pushed or pulled along rails by humans and animals for at least two thousand years. Then during the 18th century, the industrial revolution began to generate unprecedented demand for high capacity movement of raw materials, especially of coal.

The inflexibility of canals and the very poor state of roads led to experimentation and rapid technological progress with a wide range of rail materials (stone, timber, cast iron, wrought iron) and of locomotion (people, animals, gravity, racks, steam). The result was the emergence of a convention of coupled freight wagons equipped with flanged steel wheels on steel rails, and pulled by a powered locomotive. This configuration still characterizes freight railways today. Most rail freight has always been part of a longer supply chain. Early railway routes in England connected coal mines to canals for on-transport to factories (see Figure 2-1 where gravity on one way and horse power the other is used for this 18th century built railway in the UK). In the USA, mid- west stockyards assembled cattle herds that had been driven on foot for rail consignment to eastern slaughterhouses. Nineteenth century Russian railways carried timber, wheat and even refrigerated butter to Baltic ports for shipping to Western Europe. Early Australian railways collected grains from silos that were sited to be no more than one day’s return drive from farm for a bullock cart, and delivered it to city mills for processing and onward delivery by road or ship. In India and China early railways connected inland cities to ports to facilitate international trade. These and numerous other examples are an enduring reminder that the overall success of the rail freight industry has always depended not only on its own distinctive technology but how well it is integrated into overall supply chains. By the end of the nineteenth century the more industrialized countries, particularly in North America, Europe, European Russia and Japan and some other countries such as India and Argentina, had identifiable and generally (at least within countries) interoperable national railway networks, though ownership was often divided between many railway companies. These national networks provided rail connection between industrial and population centers and major ports. Except where there were parallel commercial waterways they more or less monopolized long-distance overland freight transport. But in other parts of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia (but also for example, in Australia), railways often consisted of isolated lines or small networks, feeding into ports, but lacking wider regional connectivity. China has undertaken a massive program of network development to overcome by 2020, China expects to increase its railway route-kms five-fold since 1950.

The development or the internal combustion engine and its application to road haulage in the early twentieth century were followed in due course by massive investments in national road systems. There was inevitably a decline in railways’ modal shares of freight as the new technology of motorized road haulage staked out and (with technological improvements) expanded its territory of competitive advantage. Nevertheless, this process was gradual; the extensive pre-existing railway networks in many countries remained the dominant mode of inland freight transport until well into the twentieth century. It is instructive to recall that while the first U.S. trans-continental railway was completed in 1869, the first paved roads outside of U.S. cities did not appear until 1907 and it was not possible to drive a road truck across America on a continuously paved road until the 1930s. But once road trucking industries were established and road networks developed to serve them, railways lost their overland monopoly and in due course much of their modal share. The post-second world war decline of rail freight modal share (and in many countries in terms of absolute tonnages too) has been widely documented and is not repeated here. It was variously accompanied by dramatic upheavals: company bankruptcies; industry consolidation; often nationalization (typically outside the USA, but in the case of Conrail in the 1970s in the USA

too); massive reductions in railway labor forces; abandonment of low traffic density lines; and many other survival measures. These various elements of industry restructuring were often underpinned by government financial support. However, this support was in most countries driven more by the political sensitivity of rail passenger services than by the interests of rail freight, which typically shared not only the same tracks as passenger services but the same set of financial accounts. Irrespective of individual country responses, the commercial survival of the rail freight industry everywhere fundamentally required its transformation from a general carrier in near-monopolistic markets to a specialist carrier in mainly contestable markets. This required a recognition that the technology that defines railways brings with it certain physical and economic capabilities and limitations, as does the technology of any other mode. The modes are not perfect substitutes (and in some markets, like urban freight distribution, are not substitutes at all). Modal choice will be examined in more detail in Section 3. It is sufficient here to note that successful freight companies within any mode are those that best adapt the capabilities of their particular technology to the willingness of freight customers to pay for them. So there is inevitably specialization, but specialization is also accompanied by significant areas of overlap in modal capability where market share depends not on the modal technology per se, but on how well it is managed and marketed. In overland freight markets today, railways most often compete with road haulage. In only a few corridors globally there is strong competition from inland waterways1. Pipelines compete on strategic routes for bulk movements of crude oil, gas and sometimes petroleum products. And sometimes competition exists in the form of the opportunity that the users of freight have to source that product from other producers, or from other countries that can offer cheaper transport. Sometimes competition is created by a mixture of these The key point is that except when rail transport is specifically mandated for certain traffic movements by government policy (which is increasingly rare) rail freight these days operates in contestable or competitive markets. They are characterized by demanding customers, a vigorous struggle to retain and win traffic, and long-term downward pressure on financial margins. This fact is not always evident in the policy settings within which the rail freight industry operates or in business plans prepared by railway management.

RAIL FREIGHT AND DEVELOPMENT: THE KEY ISSUES 1.1 RAIL FREIGHT IN DEVELOPMENT Rail freight is important to economic development because of its comparative economic advantages in serving certain forms and flows of freight, its wider community benefits compared to road transport, and its sometimes significant implications for national budgets. The economic development benefits of freight transport accrue when it allows developing country producers, at affordable cost, to access necessary inputs of raw materials, intermediate goods and other resources, and to consign their final products to markets. Well-run railways do the ‘heavy lifting’ of economic development, offering the capacity and services required by many types of heavy industries at a cost much lower than road transport. In doing so rail freight can facilitate trade, economies of scale, economic specialization and economic growth. In some regions characterized by groupings of many smaller countries, such as the European Union, south-eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, south-east Asia, rail freight can also contribute to closer economic integration. Efforts to improve economic integration and the connectivity of

land-locked countries in several regions are frequently seen to require strengthening of trans-regional railway routes. Freight railways can also deliver external community benefits that are increasingly valued by policy-makers, particularly in the areas of safety, environment and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The last decade has seen the emergence of an increasing body of knowledge about the external costs of different modes of transport, including the impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Evidence from Europe, the USA and China that is cited in Annex A indicates that rail freight haulage can have significant environmental and safety advantages over road haulage. Sustainable transport policies in any particular country may therefore suggest trying to enhance the role and scale of rail freight transport within national transport strategies. But developing countries would rightly be reluctant to back greater use of railways if this were to mean that their industries would have to endure a poorer freight transport service that adds to their overall logistics costs. The better that freight railways are managed; the bigger will be their contribution to development and the higher their overall community benefits. It is the achievement of dense traffic flows, with well-loaded and low-cost trains, running on reliable (and so well-maintained) infrastructure that produces not only benefits to customers and economic development but significant energy, emissions and safety advantages over road haulage. The budgetary impact of rail freight transport is also frequently an issue for transport policy-makers and an issue for development. Freight railways that are poorly conceived in terms of mismatch between the public resources spent on them relative to the role they can realistically perform, or which are poorly managed and maintained, can simply be a drain on national budgets, resulting in a squandering of scarce resources that could be used more productively in other sectors. Unfortunately in some, (but by no means all) developing countries, railways lack market focus, have poor equipment utilization, low labor productivity and deficient infrastructure. These railways invariably have a large negative budgetary impact, either in fact or in the making. While rail freight can be important to economic development, sustainability and national budgets its contribution to poverty alleviation as such is more indirect. Freight railways are mainly about bulk and line-Freight transport for development toolkit – railway transport 3

Haul transport and they make little direct contribution to the needs of the rural poor in getting their products to, or consumables from, local markets. Nor are railways suited to serving the intra-urban freight distribution needs of increasing urbanized populations that involve a wide assortment of relatively small consignment sizes to and from a multitude or origins and destinations. Nevertheless, the secondary and indirect implications of rail freight on poverty remain profound: freight railways can get coal to power stations at costs that can make the power needs of the rural and urban poor more affordable; it can deliver the bulk fertilizers and fuels that farmers need to regional depots for local distribution; it can carry the vast quantities of building materials (sand, gravel, timber, steel and cement) that underpin the physical development of cities; and it can help carry the containers that underpin production and trade in increasingly sophisticated consumer and industrial goods.

This paper offers guidance as to how to make rail freight more successful commercially, that is, in the overall market for freight transport, because in this way it will contribute directly to environmentally sustainable economic development, and indirectly to poverty alleviation.

KEY MANAGEMENT ISSUES The rail freight industry operates mainly in competitive and contestable markets in which commercial success is mainly determined by management actions. Generally-accepted management principles are as relevant to the rail freight industry as any other but they are not the main focus of this Paper. Instead the Paper concentrates on eight principles that are most particularly associated with the commercial performance of rail freight transport. They have been selected by good and bad experiences in a range of countries and are prompted by the conviction that the industry could do more for development if its management adopted these recommendations. The eight recommendations to management are to: Target markets and tailor products: freight railways are a ‘niche’ mode serving discrete customers and not mass markets. Successful freight transport companies are those that strategically target markets which best suit their modal capabilities and then adapt specific performance to meet customer needs. Be the low cost carrier: global experience suggests that being the low cost carrier is the most compelling potential source of rail freight’s competitive advantage. Measure costs and monitor margins: to become and maintain the status of a low cost carrier, and make returns, rail freight providers need to understand their cost structure and what it costs to serve different customers. In practice, many railways have little or no knowledge of the costs or margins of serving individual markets. Price to market: While cost knowledge helps to target markets and set price floors, it is competition not costs that should mainly determine rail freight pricing strategies. This also requires close market knowledge and orientation Treat infrastructure as investment in business, not in ballast: Long-term technology choices, investment and maintenance policies for rail infrastructure are critical to the underlying competitiveness of railways yet much rail infrastructure capital expenditure is standards-based, undertaken with little hard market analysis or prioritization of highest returns. Haul more freight with less metal: Well-loaded trains of high net/tare weight, operated with well-utilized rolling stock are the most potent drivers of freight train operating costs and Suggest high returns from increasing axle weights, higher train loadings and greater capital utilization. Downsize and upskill: Modern rail freight companies are much less labor intensive than in the past, but some are still seriously overstaffed and lack core competences to be successful in the market. Link trains into supply chains: Intermodalism and multimodalism (these terms are defined in Section 3) are ways that railways can increase market reach without increasing network length.

While the implementation of these recommendations is clearly a matter for managers of rail freight entities these messages are relevant not only to those managers but others in the industry or related ministries as well. Most railways in developing countries are actually or effectively part of the government and many have no realistic authority to act according to commercial principles (to set tariffs, to decide the investment policy, to stop non-economic services, etc.). The implementation of the eight recommendations is therefore closely linked to the political will to adopt policies that will allow commercial behavior by rail freightProviders and to establish an institutional framework that provides incentives for them to do so. 1.3 KEYPOLICY ISSUES:

Government strategies and policies are always influential and often decisive in helping or hindering a successful national rail freight industry. The direction of national transport strategies, the articulation of transport policies, the nature of public institutions, and the design of legal and regulatory instruments that govern transport are matters that fall within the sphere of public policy choice. These public choices affect, inter alia, who is qualified to enter the rail freight industry, how competitive it is, the level and incidence of taxation, the environmental and safety standards that it pursues, the amount of public infrastructure investment it enjoys and much else. It is therefore not surprising that railway policies should often form an important component of transport strategies and policies. But, again, this Paper is not about the general principles of transport sector governance but about those most immediately relevant to the business of rail freight. Many countries have adopted practical policies that have supported a more efficient and effective freight rail system. Section 4 of this Paper focuses on five policy approaches that international experience suggests will enhance the future role of rail freight and its contribution to sustainable development. Make rail freight a business: Freight transport is a fast-moving game and those playing it need both arms free if they are to stand a chance of winning. Nevertheless, governments in some developing countries continue to constrain the commercial instincts and freedoms of rail freight companies that they own in ways which are contributing to their long-term market decline. Let the private sector play: Private participation in rail freight has been successful in improving performance just about everywhere it has been tried; there any many options for such participation of which full-privatization is only one. Encourage competition: Even though freight transport markets as a whole are already contestable, there is a prima facie case for contestability in the rail freight market itself when such markets are not too thin to sustain it. Don’t let borders become barriers: Many railway networks are nationally-owned so it is inevitable that national borders are often also railway borders; inward-looking policies by both governments and railways have often hindered the development of international rail corridors. Level the playing and the paying field: Freight transport demand is market-driven but its ‘supply’ partly depends on government policies for funding public rail (including passenger rail) infrastructure. Public funding of each network is rarely decided in accordance with any overall national transport strategy or multi-modal assessment, and policies for infrastructure regulation and pricing are for the most part independently formulated.

WHO PROVIDES RAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORT?

State-owned railways carry about 61 percent of the global volume of rail freight and nearly all that that carried in developing countries. The 39 percent of freight volume (measured by net tonne-kms) carried by private rail freight providers is nearly all in the developed world. Private ownership and operation dominates rail freight transport in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, while a number of private third-party national and international freight train operators are emerging in Germany, Sweden and several other countries of the European Union. In the Bank’s regions of operations, private rail freight provision is nevertheless also now the norm in Latin America and prevalent in most of Sub-Saharan Africa (though not South Africa), with over 40 private rail freight companies and concessions in these two regions. But because of the relatively low rail traffic levels in most of the countries concerned they collectively carry less than 6 percent of all rail freight in developing countries. There are also third-party access operators in the Eastern and Central European region in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania and elsewhere Taking the six World Bank regions as a whole, around 94 percent of rail freight in developing countries is still carried by publicly owned operators. Many state-owned rail freight providers were privatized in the last two decades of the twentieth century in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Canada, Japan, UK, New Zealand and Australia. However, although nearly all the privatized railways have experienced considerable traffic increases the global trend has been dominated over the last ten years by traffic growth in the mega publicly-owned freight railways of China, the Russian Federation and India. The proportion of freight volume carried by the public sector is therefore probably now increasing from its 2005 level. The rail freight landscape fundamentally altered in the ECA region after 1990. The ending of political unions of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia led to the emergence of over twenty newly independent national railway companies. Some of them (RZD in Russia, KTZ in Kazakhstan and UZ Ukraine) are among the world's largest freight railway businesses. Others, like the Baltic railways in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have restructured to prosper in the competition for heavy transit traffic from the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Two countries, Azerbaijan and Georgia have benefitted from oil transit flows from the Caspian region. But several others, in south-east Europe and Central Asia, are very small and challenged by relatively

short transport distances and low traffic base. Indeed, the transition country railways of ECA as a whole have faced momentous changes in the scale, nature and direction of traffic demands as they moved from a role mandated by a centrally planned economy to new roles which depend on market forces and management competence, very often within a completely new economic geography.

WHOSE INFRASTRUCTURE DO THE RAIL FREIGHT PROVIDERS USE? Over 95 percent of freight carried globally is carried by train operators who are vertically

integrated with a railway infrastructure provider. Vertical integration exists if an entity which operates freight trains is contained within a corporate entity that manages a railway network (including within a holding company). Naturally the great majority of the freight carried by vertically integrated freight train operators is carried over their own tracks (again over 90 percent at the global level), but there is also a substantial volume of freight carried via track access rights over the tracks of other railways. In the USA, about 37,000 km of route operated by private railway companies is on track owned by another railway - equivalent to around a quarter of the total route-length of the US network3. Examples of such access to neighboring vertically integrated railways occur, but on a smaller scale, in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. In the European Union and Australia there are statutory rights of access to railway infrastructure for all properly licensed rail freight train operators, rights that in the EU have been extended both to purely domestic as well as international operations. In most EU countries, new third-party freight train operators run over tracks owned by a national railway that also has its own freight transport operation. In a small number of countries the national railway network is managed by an entity that is corporately and managerially independent of train operations: they include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Poland, and a portion of the Australian interstate corridors. In these jurisdictions, a number of public and private (in the UK only private) freight train operating companies use the network on the basis of track access agreements. However, the total amount of freight carried on these networks is less than 3 percent of the global total. 2.6 HOW DOES RAIL FREIGHT VOLUME COMPARE WITH THE OTHER MODES?

The contribution of railways to the overland freight task differs enormously between countries. For illustrative purposes Figure 2.6 gives examples ranging from over 60 percent railway volume modal share of volume in China to barely 5 percent in neighboring Cambodia. There are big divergences in the developed world too – in the USA railways carry around 40 percent of the total volume of freight, in the EU less than half of that.4Differences in rail freight modal shares occur because of differences in the underlying profile of freight demand available, because of differences in network availability and because of differences in how well services are managed and marketed. In terms of freight demand, railways cannot attain high modal shares in economies where there is little freight to which the railway mode is suited. Small countries whose freight corridors are short, which have little mining or heavy industry, and which perform no transit role, invariably have modest rail freight traffic and modal share, however well their railways might be managed.

Turning to network availability, a market can only be shared by any mode where that mode exists (or exists in a reasonably good condition). As the world’s paved road system is around 12

times larger than that of railways, there are many freight corridors (though not very many heavy freight corridors) where there is no railway service to share the market. It is therefore always necessary to assess the development value of a railway not in terms of its national share of volume, but the contribution it makes in the corridors that it serves. Finally, assuming that reasonable markets and competing infrastructure actually exist, sound management of the mode can make a difference to mode share in many freight sub-markets, even outside the pure bulk areas of coal and ores. This is a good point then at which to move from the general landscape of rail freight to explore the key.

Factors affecting freight demand:Freight demand factors are divided into two categories. Factors that affect demand

Directly and those that effect demand indirectly. The former consist of obvious candidatesLike population while the latter consist of those factors that affect the costs of one moreTransport modes and in some cases on the services offered; these factors affect demandIndirectly as a result of changes in transport costs and rates and in the services offered.

Freight Demand Factors Cited:Direct Factors:

i) Level of economic activity: Level of economic activity can be measured withGDP, particularly goods production component of GDP. Goods productionAnd particularly durables goods production tends to be more cyclical andCorrelates well with the growth in freight demand (as measured by ton-miles)

ii) Industrial Location Factors: The spatial distribution of manufacturing centersHas a great influence on the demand for freight when measured in ton-miles orThe distance that freight is transported. Spatial distribution of economicActivity also has a major influence on the modes that are used. Plants locatedNear specific modes tend to prefer that mode, for eg: factories located near railTend to use rail more where as those located near major highways tend to use

Trucks more.iii) Globalization of Business: Globalization has resulted in long supply chains

That is spread all over the world. In general the longer the supply chain, theGreater the demand for freight. This “supply chain sprawl” varies significantlyFrom industry to industry. Additionally these supply chains are dynamicConstantly adapting to the changing market and price conditions.

iv) International Trade Agreements: International Trade Agreements reduceBarriers to trade such as reduction of trade barriers, bring about consistency inGovernment regulations and generally promote trade and cross border freightTraffic.

V) Just in Time Inventory Practices: Just-in-Time (JIT) systems focus on keepingInventories at minimum levels through a coordination of input deliveries withProduction schedules. Effects on freight demand are to increase the number ofIndividual shipments, decrease their length of haul, and most importantlyIncrease the importance of on-time delivery.

vi)Central Warehousing: As transportation systems have become more efficientThere has been a trend towards using fewer warehouses. Third party logisticsOperators that specialize in distribution have helped this trend. This trend hasIncreased transport demand and associated costs in order to save on inventoryCosts. The trend toward centralized warehousing results in increased transportDemand (measured in ton-miles, shipment miles or value of service) and inSome instances a shift from truck to air delivery. Appropriate measures, mightBe the number of firms using one or two warehouses and the value or tonsShipped.

vii) Recycling: Recycling has an important effect on O-D patterns and lengths ofHaul and modal usage of several commodities. Recycling plants are locatedNear urban centers or near the markets for the products while processing plantsThat use virgin materials are usually located near a major source of supply ofThese materials and they commonly ship their products long distances to theirMarkets.Indirect Factors:

Indirect factors include:i) Deregulation: The different deregulation acts (Airline Deregulation Act,Motor Carrier Act, Stagger’s Rail Act and the Shipping Act) have all hadImportant effects by allowing private operators to operate freight links andAllowed them to operate efficient and high quality service.ii) International Transportation Agreements: There are many internationalAgreements that limit or have recently allowed more competition to take place.For example in the air freight sector, the so-called “open skies” agreements,Where carriers could provide service to airports other than the major gatewayAirports of New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. (Data on air traffic freightMovements are available by airport by the North American Airport TrafficReport, published by the Airports Council International). For trucks forExample, NAFTA allows carriers to flow freely between Canada and the USBut not between Mexico and the US.

iii) Intermodal Agreements: Intermodal Operating Agreements like that of APLThat used double stack trains to serve most inland origins and destinations. AllMajor containership companies were using such services and many truckingCompanies were adapting their trucks to handle containers. Measures for theseInclude the number of such agreements and the volume of intermodal traffic(These are published by the Association of American Railroads on a weeklyAnd annual basis for movements on class I railroads).iv) Fuel Prices: Fuel constitutes a moderately significant and relatively volatileComponent of cost for all freight modes. Fuel accounts for 7.1% of totalOperating expenses for Class I railroads: fuel, oil, lubricants and coolantsAccounts for about 13.5% of operating expenses for truck-load carriers andAbout 6% of operating expenses for LTL carriers and about 30-40% for airCarriers. Sources of Data include the Department of Energy that publishesRates for various end use categories

Publicly Provided Infrastructure: Air, water, and truck carriers are allDependent on publicly provided infrastructure. FAA is responsible for USAirports, US Army Corps of Engineers maintains the waterway channels andThe FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) and all three systems ofTransportation tend to be expanded more slowly than users would likeResulting in congestion that increases travel times and operating costs. ThisLeads to increased unreliability which is a particular problem for Just-in-TimeInventory approaches. The quality of local infrastructure and the degree ofCongestion also effect carrier choices of ports and airports. Measures of publicInfrastructure include physical characteristics such lane-miles of road, channelDepths, lengths of runways etc or financial characteristics such as capital,Maintenance and operating expenditures.vi) User Charges, Taxes and Subsidies: User Charges are used to fund mostPublicly provided infrastructure in the US including airports, ports andHighway. The major exception is inland waterways which in some cases giveSubsidies to barge operators. Other taxes exist in the form of fuel taxes such asThe federal tax on gasoline and highway diesel fuel. All these taxes add toCosts of transportation and some cases make some modes more attractiveRelative to the others particularly barge transport is subsidized relative to rail.vii) Environmental Policies and Restrictions: Environmental policies placeParticular restrictions on ports and waterways. Port expansion is limited by theClean Water Act or the “no net loss” of wetlands. The Oil pollution actRequires oil tankers that have single hulls to be replaced with double hullTankers and tankers with single hulls are required to meet other criteria. WithTrucks, emissions controls and clean fuel requirements have also effectedCosts. Air transport is subject to noise reduction acts. All these factors increaseCosts of transportation and do affect the demand for freight. In additionEnvironmental policies influence the locations at which raw materials areProduced and those at which industrial plants are located.viii) Safety Policies and Regulations: Safety policies increase some costs forCarriers but also reduce other liability costs and their effect tends not be

Significant in increasing costs.ix) Effects of Changes in Truck Size and Weight Limits: Changes in truck sizeAnd weight limits can significantly affect the cost of goods movement byTruck. Changes in truck size can result in shifts in freight to or from otherModes most importantly rail. The TRB’s Truck Weight Study estimated thatEliminating the 80,000 pound limit on gross weight would result in a 2.2 Percent reduction in rail traffic. To the extent that changes in Truck size andWeight limits because increase in the demand for all freight will depend onWhether the savings in costs that result from these changes will be passed onTo consumers. Additionally, changes in weight limits might cause total amountOf freight shipped to increase (decrease) to the extent that it encourages(Discourages) the centralization of production facilities.x) Congestion: In many urban areas, increasing highway congestion is affectingThe efficiency of reliable truck transport and the reliability required by just-in timeShipping.Technological Advances: The use of computers and telecommunicationEquipment has had an important effect on the freight industry. Air carriers andMany leading companies have implemented sophisticated systems for trackingShipments, computers for sorting shipments and optimizing the use of aircraft,And freight trucks. All these factors have improved efficiency and improvedThe level of service and reliability and hence indirectly promoted modern Justin-Time delivery methods to operate.

Freight Demand Factors Cited:In addition to listing key demand factors, this report- categorizes them as either related to (1) production, consumption & trade (2)Logistics& associated transportation service factors or (3) network & routingFactors- describes the way in which they are typically incorporated in US transport models(As shown in the listing below)- outlines the potential modeling issues/challenges associated with each of the threeBroad categories (see table below)Production, consumption & Trade Factors1) Economic activity • only included in employment numbers, if these are used toGenerate truck trips2) Commodity movements and trade patterns • Very limited in regional models. SomeJurisdictions aiming to do so in future. Super-regional or statewide models more likely toInclude commodity modeling.3) Changes to sources of raw materials and goods • May be incorporated intoCommodity modeling (where relevant)Logistics & Associated Transportation Services Factors4) Origins and destinations of freight • Internal truck matrices likely to be developedWith limited reference to actual freight origins and destinations, based on features of theOrigin/destination (such as employment). External movements often incorporateOrigin/destination information based on surveys or other models5) Distribution systems • the subtlety of distribution systems and the way that locations

Of distribution centers and use of modes and tour planning are coordinated is notConsidered. Hence the scope for these to change is largely ignored6) Logistics facility locations • some attempts to include locations as special generatorsOr freight activity nodes7) Modes available and modes used • Regional modelling usually concentrates onTrucks. Mode split is then not relevant. Is generally included in commodityModelling and wider area models8) Operational practices • Empty moves and positioning tacitly included in internal tripGeneration, but not specifically allocated to the key facilities that generate the need forSuch practices9) Ownership of transport provider • Relates to operational practices and distributionSystems and how decisions are made for forecasting purposes10) Costs of freight transport to the users • Incorporated into assignment throughGeneralized costs for trucks. Does not encapsulate the overall cost of goodsMovement, especially in so much as this is part of a production methodology that maySpan the globeB-42Network & Routing Factors11) Network availability (road, railway and waterway) • generally not includedUnless multi-modal assignment modeling is done. May be included in commoditymodeling12) Access to the networks – intermodal • Intermodal freight interchanges areSpecifically identified if they are considered important freight generators. This is unlikelyTo include direct reference to transhipment.13) Network restrictions • Assignment process include restrictions for vehicle classes14) Network instability • Linkage to overall traffic modeling results in congestion beingModelled in assignment process Tour planning • Inferred in the generation of internalTrips. Similarly to operational practices, there is no specific reference to origins andDestinations and hence potential trip-chaining15) Actual routes used by Trucks • See network restrictions

Dedicated Freight corridors:Introduction:

Under the Eleventh Five Year Plan  of India(2007–2012), Ministry of Railways is constructing a new Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) covering about 2700 route km long two routes - the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal and the Western Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port, in Mumbai, Maharashtra toTughlakabad, Delhi/Dadri along with interlinking of two corridors at Khurja in Uttar Pradesh. Upgrading of transportation technology, increase in productivity and reduction in unit transportation cost are the focus areas for the project. DFCCIL has been designated by Government of India as a `special purpose vehicle`, and has been created to undertake planning & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the Dedicated Freight Corridors. DFCCIL has been registered as a company under the Companies Act 1956 on 30 October 2006.Need for Dedicated Freight Corridor Project.Economic liberalization of 1991 followed by Information Technology industry explosion has

taken India to a new growth scenario. Backed by strong fundamentals and commendable growth in the past three to four years, the resplendent Indian Economy is poised to grow even further at an average of 8 to 10% in the next 3 years. Transport requirement in the country, being primarily a derived demand, is slated to increase with elasticity of 1.25 with GDP growth by 10 to 12% in the medium and long term range. Riding on the waves of economic success, Indian Railways has witnessed a dramatic turn around and unprecedented financial turnover in the last two and a half years. This has been made possible by higher freight volumes without substantial investment in infrastructure, increased axle load, reduction of turn-round time of rolling stock, reduced unit cost of transportation, rationalization of tariffs resulting in improvement in market share and improved operational margins. Over the last 2 to 3 years, the railway freight traffic has grown by 8 to 11%, which is projected to cross 1100 million tons by the end of 11th Five Year Plan.The Indian Railways’ quadrilateral linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral; and its two diagonals (North-South (Delhi - Chennai) and East-West (Howrah - Mumbai)), adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km carries more than 55% of revenue earning freight traffic of Indian Railways. The existing trunk routes of Howrah-Delhi on the Eastern Corridor and Mumbai-Delhi on the Western Corridor are highly saturated, line capacity utilization varying between 115% to 150%.The surging power needs requiring heavy coal movement, booming infrastructure construction and growing international trade has led to the conception of the Dedicated Freight Corridors along the Eastern and Western Routes.Dedicated Freight corridors will have higher axle load of 32.5-tons/axle (currently 40-tons/axle loads is the upper load limit for railways due to rail metallurgy limitations) and speed of freight transport at 100 km/h. Road-rail synergy system : Roll On - Roll Off service on DFC may transform the way India ships perishable goods and will result a major savings in India's foreign exchequer. India has a major advantage in opting for broad gauge as large trucks can travel on the train tracks without using diesel, at 100 km/h. Trains are run on the electricity, which can be generated from the renewable energy sources. But the design of the route along with tunnels and bridges to accommodate height of trucks will be instrumental in such operations. Konkan Railway, a subsidiary of Indian Railway, which introduced many innovations in the railway sector of India is only railway in India running this service in India as of now, helping India to decrease dependence on external countries for fuel.DFC may become strategically importance for India as it will help in transferring the military equipment such as heavier tanks to the border in much faster way. But design of the overhead electrical lines as well as weight capacity of bridges and tunnels will play role in this. Carbon emission reduction may help DFCCIL to claim carbon credits.

Historical Perspective:Accordingly, the seeds for the project were sown as early as in April, 2005, wherein, Honorable Prime Ministers of India and Japan made a joint declaration for feasibility and possible funding of the dedicated rail freight corridors. Honorable Minister for Railways, almost at the same time, announced in the Parliament the need and planning for the project. Immediately thereafter, RITES was entrusted with the feasibility study of both eastern and western corridors. In May 2005, Committee on Infrastructure (COI) constituted a Task Force, chaired by Shri Anwarul Huda, Member Planning Commission to prepare a concept paper on Delhi-Mumbai (Western) and Delhi-Howrah (Eastern) dedicated freight corridor projects, and to suggest a new

organizational structure for planning, financing, construction and operation of these corridors. RITES, in January 2006, submitted the Feasibility Study Report of both the corridors to Ministry of Railways. Almost simultaneously, the Cabinet approved the report of the Task Force of the COI, which directed that a SPV should be set up to construct and operate the DFC. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave "in principle" approval to the Feasibility Study report asking the MOR to go ahead with Preliminary Engineering cum Traffic Survey (PETS) for the two corridors, firm up the cost of the project and work out the financing options. In consonance with the recommendation of the Task Force of COI, a SPV, named "Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited" (DFCCIL) was incorporated under Companies Act in October 2006. Subsequently, RITES submitted the PETS Report based on which the project was approved at a cost of Rs.281.81 billion.India can achieve higher axle load without wear and tear created by the friction by adopting the Maglev technologies for freight transport.Unique features and benefits of Dedicated Freight corridors:· World's first and only double-stack, international standard container freight trains run using

electric locomotives, which are superior in terms of environment and economics. DFC uses the pantograph which holds world record for their height, as India is the only country to have double-stack trains on electric locomotives, which can transport international standard containers. Once implemented DFC will make Indian freight transport cheapest in the world as they run on a Broad-gauge with double-stack using electric locomotives, which no other country has achieved.

· World's first and only triple-stack container trains will run on these lines. Broad-gauge DFC allows triple-stack container to be used in these railway lines for domestic traffic. This could be implemented in the domestic sector movements only, as, for international trade, there are standard container sizes. This will reduce the unit cost of transportation by permitting higher volumes of relatively lightweight and high value cargo in each rake. These containers would be well suited for moving voluminous and high value cargo such as cars, automobile parts, electronics and electrical components, readymade garments, tea, medicinal items, spices, plastic goods, jute, leather goods, de-oiled cakes and paper. A first in the world, as India uses Broad-gauge electrical locomotives for freight movement with triple-stack configuration.

· One of the best axle-load in the world, though railway engineers and India may not write their name in the history books as Australian private railway line holds the record for Heaviest haul railway in the world. Dedicated Freight corridors will have higher axle load of 32.5-tons/axle (currently 40-tons/axle loads is the upper load limit for railways due to rail metallurgy limitations) and speed of freight transport at 100 km/h.

· Indian freight movement will move away from inflationary diesel fuel to the indigenous electrical power, helping India to control its Current Account Deficit. India, of late has become one of world leader in electricity generation by renewable sources. India will not be dependent on foreign countries for its freight railway network's energy needs.

· Freight Trains with length 1.5 km, width 4660 mm, height 7.1 m, and load 15,000 Ton in a double-stack configuration will run on these lines. These are the minimum configuration for which railway line will be built, but operational expertise and efficiency is expected increase the capacity in most of above parameters.

· India will move away from single-stack freight trains to double-stack configuration.· Technology used for the double-stack electrical locomotive will be used in passenger trains

to introduce double-decker passenger electrical trains, which will result in lower ticket

prices.· UBS has identified DFC as one of the project which will have effects felt on Indian economy

for foreseeable future. · DFC using electric locomotive has major environmental benefits. World Bank study has

shown that DFC will reduce Green House Gas emission and will have positive effect on reducing the pollution.

· Passenger trains can run faster and India can achieve its target of running sub-high speed trains on the current tracks. Freight traffic will migrate to the new network, freeing up the current trunk lines for passenger traffic.

· India will have speed of freight trains up to 100 km/hour, from the current average freight train speed of 20–30 km/h. It may be increased to 120 km/h achieved by the Chinese freight trains, to boost India's cargo capacity by 12 percent.

Dedicated Freight Corridors:Sanctioned Dedicated Freight Corridors;· Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, (Dadri, Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru

Port, Mumbai — 1,468 km). · Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, (Ludhiana, Punjab to Dankuni, West Bengal —

1,232 km). Planned Dedicated Freight Corridors:· East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor - connecting Kolkata and Mumbai, 2,000 km-long· North-South Dedicated Freight Corridor - connecting Delhi and Chennai, 2,173 km long· East Coast Dedicated Freight Corridor - connecting Kharagpur with Vijayawada, 1,100 km

East Coast corridor· South-West Dedicated Freight Corridor - connecting Chennai and Goa, 890 km-long -

· This DFC goes through Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Corridor promoted by Japan & India and as a part of Bangalore-Mumbai Economic corridor promoted by UK & India.

Proposed Dedicated Freight Corridors:

· Bangalore - Chennai Dedicated Freight Corridor· This DFC goes through Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Corridor promoted by Japan &

India.(There are proposals to extend this line to Mangalore to connect India's biggest Petrochemical complex, international air-cargo facility(direct flights to gulf and Europe) and major seaport in Mangalore with Whitefield ICD(Inland Container Depot), through a tunnel being constructed with the help of Japan in Western Ghats. This will result in hazardous petrochemicals currently being transported by road through tankers migrated to the railway cargo, resulting in efficiency improvements in country's energy security and safety to the common people living alongside national highways).

Dedicated Fright

Corridor

Route

Track gauge Speed Length

(km) Further Extension StatusStart Point

Termination Point

Western Dedicated

Dhari JNPT, Nava Sheva

Broad Gauge

1483 Approved in Rail Budget

Freight Corridor 2014-15.

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Ludhiana Dankuni Broad Gauge 1839

Approved in Rail Budget 2014-15. World Bank has sanctioned loan for development of 393 kms of double track between Mughalsarai and Bhaupur (near Kanpur and between Kanpur and Etawah).

East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor

Kolkata Mumbai Broad Gauge 2000 Planned

North-South Dedicated Freight Corridor

Delhi Chennai Broad Gauge 2173 Planned

East Coast Dedicated Freight Corridor

Kharagpur Vijayawada Broad

Gauge 1100 Planned

South-West Dedicated Freight Corridor

Chennai Goa Broad Gauge 890

branching to Mangalore from Bangalore

Planned

Freight trains - general information

Q. What are the typical freight loads carried by IR?

IR carries the entire gamut of goods, ranging from parcel traffic and small consignments, agricultural products, raw materials like iron ore and petroleum, and finished goods like automobiles. Over the last few decades, IR has made an effort to move away from small

consignments or piecemeal freight, and to increase the number of block rakes where a shipper contracts for an entire rake assigned to carry a shipment. These are more profitable for IR as the rake does not have to be split up into or amalgamated from individual wagons going to or coming from different points, saving on marshalling time, transit time, and scheduling. Most of IR's freight revenue now comes from such block rakes carrying bulk goods such as coal or cement. A typical load (full rake) consists of 40 BCN wagons (2200t). Sometimes half loads (mini-rake) of 20 BCN wagons (1100t) are also available for contracts (see below for more on the mini-rake scheme).In late 2004, some of the specifications for wagon loading were modified, so as to allow greater loads to be carried. For materials such as iron ore, an additional 4t can now be loaded, allowing a BOXN wagon to carry 62t.Of course, IR does also carry container traffic and also smaller consignments, and there has been talk recently [10/01] of possibly re-entering the piecemeal freight business actively. Some dedicated parcel trains have been introduced. Parcel vans are still used a lot for small consignments; these vans are generally attached to passenger trains. They used to be more numerous in the past, but had been diminishing in importance in the 1980s and 1990s as IR focused on larger loads of freight.[4/00] High-capacity parcel vans ('Green Parcel Vans') have been used in special-purpose rakes intended for carrying fruits and vegetables. The high-capacity parcel van carries 23t as opposed to the ordinary parcel van which carries 18t of goods. Single high-capacity parcel vans have been seen attached to passenger trains (e.g., GT, Lokshakti and Karnataka Exps., Saurashtra Mail, Flying Ranee); the vans are marked 'Blue Parcel Service' and have a dark-blue livery. Recently [1/03] new parcel vans formed by converting old general passenger stock (GS coaches) have been spotted at various places. These are being used for transporting cars and other automobiles.Refrigerated parcel van service is available on a few sections. One such service proposed [2/03] for the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram Jan Shatabdi will have a refrigerated parcel van that can accommodate 5t of frozen goods at -20C and 12t of chilled goods at +4C. This coach, manufactured by RCF, has a maximum allowable speed of 130km/h and has a diesel-powered refrigeration unit that can run for 15 days without refueling. Similar services are expected to be introduced on most major routes. RCF plans to produce 9 of these refrigerated vans in 2003. CR and WR are also introducing such services. Now [10/04] IR has around 10 of these new design refrigerated vans.In addition, a mini-rake scheme has been introduced [7/03] where loads smaller than full freight rakes (usually half-size, i.e., 20 wagons, also known as half rakes) are booked for transport by IR at full train-load prices, for distances up to about 300km with connecting services for transshipment to road transport. Not only is the half-rake service more convenient for many industrial concerns, the number of sidings at goods sheds and transshipment points where half-rakes can be loaded or unloaded is much larger than the number of sidings where full rakes can be handled.Bulk freight transport rates also vary based on the number of times a rake may be loaded or unloaded. A so-called two-point rake is one that can be loaded or unloaded at two points, usually a half-rake at a time, at approved combinations of two loading or unloading locations.Some freight rates are used continuously in dedicated operations over a closed loop journey. These are known as closed-circuit rakes, and typically consist of 40 BCN or BCNA wagons

(cement), or 58 BOXN wagons (coal), or 48 BTPN tankers (petroleum products). Much of the bulk goods movement of SCR, for instance, occurs on such closed-circuit rakes. These rakes are often also subjected to a more rigorous maintenance regime, known as the super-intensive examination, and have brake power certificates (BPC) issued for 6000km / 35 days at a time.The 'Green Bogey' (Green Bogie) service provides for the transport of perishable agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) in refrigerated and non-refrigerated wagons attached to passenger trains.There are a few other timetabled and guaranteed delivery time parcel operations run by IR, such as the 'Tej Shree Parcel Sewa' services (introduced [9/09]) run by NR between Patel Nagar (earlier, Tughlakabad) to Vapi and to Howrah. The parcel trains run on the allocated route, and customers can book parcel vans ('VP') for attachment/detachment at specified stations along the route.

Q. What is 'Scale R' or 'Scale S', etc., in the context of parcel service?

IR has several freight rate scales for parcel traffic. Scale R or Rajdhani Parcel Service is applicable to parcels carried on the Rajdhani Express trains and thereby being assured of the speediest delivery of all IR's services. Scale P (Premium Parcel Service) applies to parcels carried on certain Shatabdi Express trains, certain other Mail/Express trains, and all Special Parcel trains (including the Green Parcel vans, Blue Parcel Service, etc.).Scale S (Standard Parcel Service) applies to all parcels carried on other passenger trains. There also used to be a Scale E (Economy Parcel Service) which was applicable to parcels carried on ordinary passenger trains, but that has since been abolished [3/05] and the category merged with Scale P. Newspapers, magazines, and certain other goods always get classified as Scale S traffic (earlier, Scale E).

How are freight trains scheduled?

Some goods trains are run as pre-scheduled or timetabled services (Link and Crack trains, quick Transit Service, etc.). The majority of goods trains, however, are run as requirements arise. The process of arranging for a goods train to run is known as ordering a goods train. Ordering a goods train involves the issuance of written advice to the yard or station and loco shed that a certain train will run, starting from the station or yard at a certain time and running to a certain schedule. The written advice is known as the Train Notice. The train notice is normally issued at least 3 hours before the advertised departure of the train, so that the rake can be marshaled and the locomotives prepared for the trip. Once the train departs, it is under the control of the section controllers until it reaches the next goods yard (where the next section controller picks it up). Apart from coordinating with station staff for through running on the main or loop lines, normally goods trains run without attention from station staff.

Q. How are freight trains numbered or named?

The rakes are assigned names in alphabetic sequence starting with a name that begins with an 'A' for the first formation out of a marshalling yard after 0100 hrs, along with a number. This designation can change if the rake is broken up at another yard and regrouped. Thus, freight

trains have names such as 'Ahmadabad 10', or 'Bombay 21', or 'India 38'. The letters 'J' and 'U' are not used, so that there are 24 letters available, one for each hour of the day. The number following the alphabetic part of the name indicates the time (minutes past the top of the hour) when the train departed the yard; e.g., 'India 38' is a freight train that left the yard at 0938 hrs. Trains leaving between midnight and 0100 hrs use the letter 'Z'. The words used to signify the letters of the alphabet are not standardized; 'Z' could be indicated by 'Zebra' or 'Zimbabwe'.Some special freight trains are named differently (e.g. the Shalimar Special out of Mumbai (Wadi Bunder to Shalimar near Calcutta), or the 'Salt Cotours' freight (Wadi Bunder to Salt Cotours near Chennai)); these tend to be 'privileged' trains and they carry goods with guaranteed delivery schedules. The 'Ahmadabad Arrow' used to run between Bombay and Ahmadabad. Other such named freight trains (past and present) include the 'Green Arrow', 'Blue Flame', 'Red Star', 'Black Gold', and 'Green Bullet'.Other special freight trains include the 'Freight Chief' and the 'Super Link Expresses'. CONCOR introduced several new dedicated timetabled container trains in 2000 (Shalimar - Chennai, Shalimar - Hyderabad, Cossipore - New Delhi) and 2001 (Cossipore - Haldia, for international container freight), with more planned (Shalimar - Mumbai, Shalimar - Nagpur).Recently [12/00] special timetabled parcel trains have been introduced by SER. One is the 'Dakshin Parcel Express' between Calcutta and Chennai, and another is the 'Pashchim Parcel Express' between Calcutta and Mumbai. These run at 90-105km/h. The 'Millennium Parcel Express' is slated [5/01] to run between Chennai and New Delhi, and also perhaps Shalimar - Ahmadabad, Shalimar - Sanatnagar, Sanatnagar - Tughlakabad, and Turbhe (New Bombay) - Shalimar.

Q. Who carries container traffic in India?

Most rail container traffic in India is handled by CONCOR (the Container Corporation of India) which until recently was the only such organization. CONCOR is a public-sector concern, but it maintains its own fleet of wagons and other assets that are separate from IR's, although the traffic moves on IR's tracks.Recently [2/06] the government has given approval to the Pipavav Rail Corporation (PRCL) to offer container services in India. It is expected that PRCL will run container services from the ports of Pipavav, Mundra, Chennai/Ennore, Vishakhapatnam, and Kochi (Cochin). PRCL is a joint venture between IR and the Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. Originally, PRCL was set up to construct and operate a 270km BG railway line between Pipavav port and Surendranagar on the Western Railway.Private operators [8/07] Private companies have only very recently been given approval to operate in India. Generally speaking the private companies are given limited licenses to operate container services on specific routes and for a specific number of years. In April 2007, Boxtrans Logistics, belonging to the JM Baxi Group, became the first private player to operate container services, with a rake of 45 Texmaco flat wagons running between Cossipore (ER) and Loni near New Delhi and Mundra port (Gujarat). The initial runs carried about 90 TEUs. Boxtrans also expects to run services on the Loni - Vishakhapatnam route. Its license allows it to run on all routes except the premier New Delhi - JNPT route. It is expected to maintain 3 rakes of its own. Another company, APL (formerly American President Lines), belonging to the Singapore-based

Nepture Orient Lines began container operations in May 2007 with a rake from Loni to JNPT. APL holds a so-called 'Category 1' license allowing it to run container services on all routes in India, for a period of 20 years. APL is initially buying seven 45-flat-wagon rakes from Titograd Industries. A joint venture between Hind Terminals (of the Sharaf Group, UAE) and MSC Agency (belonging to the Mediterranean Shipping Company, Geneva) also has a Category 1 license. Another private operator, Innovative B2B Logistic Solutions, has a limited license to run container services on some routes. Other licensees include Reliance Infrastructure Engineers, Adani Logistics, Central Warehousing Corporation, and Delhi Assam Roadways Corp. Other private operators are gradually entering the field. Arshiya International, a supply-chain management company, began operations in Jan. 2009 with dedicated rakes and custom-built containers to carry freight for Vedanta Aluminum Ltd.

Q. What are CONTRACK trains? And ConRaj trains? And CARTRAC?

Recently [1999] CONCOR has begun running some fast (up to 100km/h) guaranteed delivery container freight trains on certain routes (35 rail corridors have been identified as suitable for such service). The rakes consist of 5-wagon groups of flat cars; the flat cars are low flat cars which allow loading 'Tallboy' containers.A particular freight service of this kind inaugurated recently [6/00] goes by the name of CONTRACK and is a time-tabled weekly train between Shalimar Terminal and Tondiarpet (Chennai).Some of the fast (up to 100km/h [8/00]) freight trains, especially on the Mumbai-Delhi route, are informally named 'Con-Raj' (for Container Rajdhani). Some of these even go straight through Vadodara without a halt, with crew changes only at Valsad and Godhra.CONCOR has obtained several high-speed flat wagons which are rated for service at 100km/h. (These are also known as 'low belt container flat wagons', and abbreviated 'BLC'.) These have several advanced features, such as automatic twist locks, slack less drawbars, and small-diameter wheels allowing a low bed height. These are currently [12/00] in use on the Tughlakabad-Mumbai container route for the Con-Raj trains mentioned above. More are being ordered, under the auspices of a World Bank loan and the IBRD. Newer versions [9/04] have automatic load sensing devices to allow optimum braking under varying loads. The wagons have a single-pipe air-brake system.CARTRAC is the name given to CONCOR's automobile transport service. It uses converted passenger coaches to hold automobiles in two decks. A typical CARTRAC rake has about 21 such modified coaches.

Q. What is the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)?

The Dedicated Freight Corridor is a project for new railway lines exclusively for carrying freight isolated from normal IR traffic and passenger trains. Conceived in 2004-2005, planning began in 2006, and in 2007 initial proposals have been drawn up. The entire DFC project will include 2,700km or so of exclusive freight lines (new construction), and about 5,000km of feeder lines that will include some new construction and many existing lines that will be upgraded.In the first phase, the Western Corridor will connect the Jawaharlal Nehru Port to New Delhi via

Vadodara, Ahmadabad, Palanpur, Jaipur, and Rewari and further on to Tughlakabad and Dadri. There will also be a link between Dadri and Khurja, and feeder routes connecting other ports of Gujarat. There will also be four logistic terminals, one each near New Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmadabad, and Vadodara. The Western Corridor is expected to carry mainly container traffic. The Western Corridor is expected to be unelectrified, using diesel traction.The Eastern Corridor is expected to connect Ludhiana to Sonnagar via Ambala, Saharanpur, Khurja, Shahjahanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, and Mughalsarai. The primary feeder routes for this will be from Sonnagar to Durgapur via Gomoh, Sonnagar to Tatanagar via Garhwa Road, and Barkakana to Bokaro via Chandrapura. Eventually the Eastern Corridor will be extended to Dankuni, near Kolkata, where there will be a new freight terminal, and to a new (to be built) deep-water port off the coast of West Bengal near Kolkata, with a total length of 1,805km. The Eastern corridor will be single line on the Ludhiana-Khurja portion (426km) and double line on the remaining portions. The Eastern Corridor is expected to carry more heavy mineral traffic and less container traffic. The Eastern Corridor is expected to be electrified. Work on the Eastern Corridor was inaugurated on Feb. 10, 2009, with construction commencing on a 105km section between New Ganjkhwaja near Mughalsarai to New Karwandia near Sonnagar.It is expected that trains running on the DFC lines will be up to 1.5km long (100 wagon rakes) and running at up to 100km/h. Double-stacking of containers is expected to be the rule, especially on the Western Corridor which will be unelectrified. Transit time for freight between Mumbai and New Delhi is expected to drop to about 36 hours from the current 60 hours. In the busiest freight routes such as Ahmadabad - Marwar, the number of freight trains running is expected to rise from 15 each way each day (currently) to 72 each way; between JNP and Vadodara the increase will be from 9 to 49. Expected completion time for the first phase of the DFC project (the routes described above) is around 5-7 years (i.e., completion by 2012-2014). RITES are the agency carrying out the initial feasibility studies for the project.

Q. International freight: Are there direct freight trains running between India and neighboring countries?

Freight trains run regularly between India and Pakistan via the Attari (Punjab) - Lahore route. The Munabao - Khokhrapar route is under consideration [2007] for goods traffic (it is currently only used for the Thar Express passenger traffic). Freight trains have also been running regularly between India and Bangladesh on the Gede-Darshana and Petrapole - Benapole routes. Another route connecting India and Bangladesh is Singhbad (India) - Rohanpur (Bangladesh). The Bongaon (India) - Jessore (Bangladesh) direct BG route has been proposed, and needs a 10km link constructed between Akhaura and Agartala. Nepal is connected to India by rail by the Birgunj - Raxaul line. See the international section and also the international links list.

Q. How heavy are the freights carried by IR? What are the heaviest freights?

[3/99] Among the heaviest freights regularly hauled in India are the 4700+ tonne loads hauled by two (sometimes one, depending on the gradient, etc.) WAG-9 locos in the Dhanbad Division. Earlier, these freights required multiple WAG-5 locos to haul them. Typical heavy freight trains in many sections use two or three WAG-5's at the front and two or three WAG-5's at the rear. Iron ore trains on the Kulem-Londa section, as well as other heavy freights in other sections such

as on the SER can have up to 7 locos, for instance with 3 at either end and 1 in the middle, connected and operated through a system known as 'Locotrol'. The Kirandul-Kottavalasa line, before it was electrified, often had many freight rakes hauled by 5 or 6 diesel locos (1960s). (Today 2 or 3 WAG-5 locos are usual for these.)[5/01] On May 17, 2001, a single WAG-9 achieved a top speed of 100km/h while hauling a rake of 58 BOXN-HA wagons (4700t) on the Sonenagar-Mughalsarai section of ER. The 123km section was covered in 100 minutes, at an average speed of 72km/h.Trials have been conducted with a single WAG-7 hauling a 6000 tonne rake on level track near Gomoh; 5500t rakes have sometimes been hauled double-headed by WAG-9 locos; and 5500t rakes have also been hauled by two or three WAG-7 (?) locos. In 1998 a single WAM-4 hauled a 9000t (!) rake near Ghaziabad. In the early 1990s, a kilometer-long coal rake for NTPC's Dadri power plant was hauled on the Grand Chord.Diesel traction: a single WDG-4 has been used to haul a 4700t rake (58 BOXN wagons).'Midhaul' operations where locomotives are used in the middle of a rake are not common in IR. Locos are more often added at the front and rear of a rake. SCR has run [2/02] some trials using up to 7 locomotives (3 in the front, 3 at the rear, and one in the middle) for a 54-wagon rake on the Castle Rock - Kulem ghat section. Trials on the Hassan-Mangalore section with 58-BOXN wagon rakes were carried out with six WDG-3A locos, 3 in the front and 3 at the rear. Even though the newer locomotives such as the WAG-9 or WDG-4 can haul these heavy loads singlehandedly, many of the older bridges and other structures on IR's lines cannot withstand the higher longitudinal stresses that these locos exert, hence often these loads are hauled by multiple lower-powered locos. Brake power is also an issue on gradients. Three WDG-3A locos are said to be able to keep a fully-loaded 58-BOXN rake at 30km/h on a 1:50 down gradient using train brakes and dynamic brakes.The BOXN-HA wagons (see the section on wagon types) was planned for heavier axle-loading and would have eventually allowed the routine hauling of 5220t rakes without the need for longer sidings or loops; however the experiments with this wagon type didn't work out and they were never manufactured after the initial batch of about 301.Top Speeds : [Times uncertain here] For 4700t loads on level track: A WDG-2 can attain 68km/h in about 56 minutes (? not certain); a WDG-4 can reach 82km/h in 30 minutes; a WAG-5 can attain a top speed of 80km/h in 33 minutes; for a WAG-7, the figures are 92km/h and 38 minutes (or 70km/h in 15 minutes); and for a WAG-9, 100km/h and 17 minutes. In 2000, successful trials were conducted of running BOXN wagon rakes at 100km/h on the Gomoh-Mughalsarai section, and even up to Ghaziabad.Goods trains on mainline BG routes are generally restricted to 75km/h, with a few exceptions and special operations. (Parcel vans and milk vans or refrigerated vans for perishables attached to passenger trains can of course go faster.) The average speeds of goods trains on the main trunk routes are around 40-45km/h. There is now [9/04] a proposal to raise the maximum permissible speed limit for goods trains to 100km/h on the trunk routes connecting New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. These six routes (the quadrilateral and its diagonals) total about 10,000km, about 15% of the total IR network, but they account for 75% of the total freight traffic. The raising of the speed limit is expected to raise the average speed to 55km/h, which can potentially increase the utilization of the track substantially.

Q. How heavy are the freights carried by IR? What are the heaviest freights?

[3/99] Among the heaviest freights regularly hauled in India are the 4700+ tonne loads hauled by two (sometimes one, depending on the gradient, etc.) WAG-9 locos in the Dhanbad Division. Earlier, these freights required multiple WAG-5 locos to haul them. Typical heavy freight trains in many sections use two or three WAG-5's at the front and two or three WAG-5's at the rear. Iron ore trains on the Kulem-Londa section, as well as other heavy freights in other sections such as on the SER can have up to 7 locos, for instance with 3 at either end and 1 in the middle, connected and operated through a system known as 'Locotrol'. The Kirandul-Kottavalasa line, before it was electrified, often had many freight rakes hauled by 5 or 6 diesel locos (1960s). (Today 2 or 3 WAG-5 locos are usual for these.)[5/01] On May 17, 2001, a single WAG-9 achieved a top speed of 100km/h while hauling a rake of 58 BOXN-HA wagons (4700t) on the Sonenagar-Mughalsarai section of ER. The 123km section was covered in 100 minutes, at an average speed of 72km/h.Trials have been conducted with a single WAG-7 hauling a 6000 tonne rake on level track near Gomoh; 5500t rakes have sometimes been hauled double-headed by WAG-9 locos; and 5500t rakes have also been hauled by two or three WAG-7 (?) locos. In 1998 a single WAM-4 hauled a 9000t (!) rake near Ghaziabad. In the early 1990s, a kilometer-long coal rake for NTPC's Dadri power plant was hauled on the Grand Chord.Diesel traction: a single WDG-4 has been used to haul a 4700t rake (58 BOXN wagons).'Midhaul' operations where locomotives are used in the middle of a rake are not common in IR. Locos are more often added at the front and rear of a rake. SCR has run [2/02] some trials using up to 7 locomotives (3 in the front, 3 at the rear, and one in the middle) for a 54-wagon rake on the Castle Rock - Kulem ghat section. Trials on the Hassan-Mangalore section with 58-BOXN wagon rakes were carried out with six WDG-3A locos, 3 in the front and 3 at the rear. Even though the newer locomotives such as the WAG-9 or WDG-4 can haul these heavy loads singlehandedly, many of the older bridges and other structures on IR's lines cannot withstand the higher longitudinal stresses that these locos exert, hence often these loads are hauled by multiple lower-powered locos. Brake power is also an issue on gradients. Three WDG-3A locos are said to be able to keep a fully-loaded 58-BOXN rake at 30km/h on a 1:50 down gradient using train brakes and dynamic brakes.The BOXN-HA wagons (see the section on wagon types) was planned for heavier axle-loading and would have eventually allowed the routine hauling of 5220t rakes without the need for longer sidings or loops; however the experiments with this wagon type didn't work out and they were never manufactured after the initial batch of about 301.Top Speeds : [Times uncertain here] For 4700t loads on level track: A WDG-2 can attain 68km/h in about 56 minutes (? not certain); a WDG-4 can reach 82km/h in 30 minutes; a WAG-5 can attain a top speed of 80km/h in 33 minutes; for a WAG-7, the figures are 92km/h and 38 minutes (or 70km/h in 15 minutes); and for a WAG-9, 100km/h and 17 minutes. In 2000, successful trials were conducted of running BOXN wagon rakes at 100km/h on the Gomoh-Mughalsarai section, and even up to Ghaziabad.Goods trains on mainline BG routes are generally restricted to 75km/h, with a few exceptions and special operations. (Parcel vans and milk vans or refrigerated vans for perishables attached to passenger trains can of course go faster.) The average speeds of goods trains on the main trunk routes are around 40-45km/h. There is now [9/04] a proposal to raise the maximum permissible

speed limit for goods trains to 100km/h on the trunk routes connecting New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. These six routes (the quadrilateral and its diagonals) total about 10,000km, about 15% of the total IR network, but they account for 75% of the total freight traffic. The raising of the speed limit is expected to raise the average speed to 55km/h, which can potentially increase the utilization of the track substantially.

Q. How has IR developed its hauling capacity?

Rakes of the old freight wagons, classified 'CG', for Covered Goods, consisting of the old 4-wheeled C or CR wagons) up to 1850 or so tones (2350t for some types of wagons). With the introduction of bogie stock, mixed CRT/CRC/BCX rakes became more common and brought the maximum up to 2750 tones. As noted above, even today the standard load for a typical shipment by a 'full rake' of miscellaneous goods is about 2200t.The introduction of bogie wagons and air-braked stock has allowed larger and heavier formations to be hauled, and 3660t rakes of box wagons became common. The so-called 'Jumbo' rakes, consisting mostly of BCX and similar bogie stock are up to 3500-3750 tones (these are air-braked today, but vacuum-braked rakes of this size have been used), and beyond these are what are known in IR parlance as 'Super-Jumbo' rakes, carrying up to 4500-4700 tones. The super-jumbo rakes consist entirely of the newer BCX/BCN/BCNA/etc. wagons and are air-braked.The 'Green Arrow' rakes have only BCN/BCNA wagons, up to about 40 of them. The name comes from the green paint scheme used for these air-braked wagons. Forty BCN wagons are about the limit for most parts of IR's network because of the restriction imposed by the lengths of loops where freight trains can be diverted to allow passenger trains to pass. The standard loop length is 650m, although many places are now getting loops of 900m to cope with freight formations that are up to 850m long.BOXN formations up to 58 cars are also common (again, this is the maximum length allowable on most loop lines). The 'Green Bullet' trains have BOXN rakes usually carrying a bulk commodity like iron ore for thermal power plants. (The ones carrying coal are often known as 'Black Bullet' trains.) BCNA rakes can be up to 58 cars too, but more commonly 40+ cars or so. BCN wagons being a bit longer, only 40 cars or so are formed into a single rake.In several places, IR has run, as experiments, longer freight trains formed by combining two or three freight rakes for part of a route and then splitting them later as they go on to their respective destinations. However, when running combined the extra-long rake has to be scheduled carefully as it places severe constraints on the movement of all other traffic on the same track because it cannot fit on any loop at any station, and any problem with the rake can result in major delays.Upgraded versions of the BOXN wagons (class BOXN-HA, see the section on wagons) with payloads of 66t (and axle loads of up to 23.5t are planned to be run on several sections after track upgrades. Sixteen sections have been identified for this [4/05]:

Gua-Barajamda-Rajkharasawan-Sini-Chandill Gardhrubeswar-Joychandpahar-Damodar-Burnpur-Asansol, Bondamunda-Sini-Adityapur, Bolanikhadan-Barajamda, Bondamunda-Barsuan, Bimalgarh-Kiriburu, Bhilai-Dalli Rajhara, Damodar-Kalipahar, Padapahar-Banspani,

Bondamunda-Nawagaon-Puranpani, Bhilai-Ahlwara, Waltair-Kirandul (the 'KK' line), Vasco-Hospet-Guntakal-Renigunta-Chennai, Nawagaon-Hatia-Muri-Bokaro, Purulia-Kotshila, Daitatri-Jakhapura-Paradeep and Sambalpur-Titlagarh-Rayagada-Vijayanagaran-Visakhapatnam.

Q. What is the state of intermodal transportation in India? Are roadrailers, road trailers on rails, etc. used in India?

Currently [7/00] a trial Wabash / Kirloskar roadrailer runs between Konkan Railway (and JNPT) and Nagpur. Konkan Railway has also made some trials of TOFC (trailer on flat car). Intermodal cars are used quite a bit. They are configured with 6 trucks for 5 cars, but double-stacking is not used as the floor height of the cars is usually the same as for regular COFC (container on flat car) services. CONCOR does have flat cars with low bed height for Tallboy containers. (Currently [2/02] around 1875 flat cars in its fleet; to increase by another 1000 or more in 2002.)Spine cars, well cars, freight DMUs, Cargo Sprinter, etc. are not in use in India currently. [7/00]Konkan Railway pioneered the 'roll-on, roll-off' ('RORO' or 'RO-RO') concept in India on its route between Mumbai (Kolad) and Goa (Verna). Starting in 1999 with 5 trucks being transported at a time, today [1/05] the service handles 50 trucks on its route each day. In this service, trucks belonging to commercial private trucking companies loaded with their goods drive on to a rake of flat cars and are carried (trucks and their cargo, and their drivers!) by train to the destination where they simply drive off the train; this obviously eliminates a lot of time lost in intermodal transshipment. Loading and unloading at either end can be as short as 10-15 minutes. The RORO rake normally achieves speeds of about 75km/h. The Kolad-Verna stretch takes about 10 hours with RORO while it can be a full day's driving or more if the trucks take the road instead. The trucks are restricted to 25 tons for 2-axle trucks and 40 tones for 4-axle trucks. RORO service is also available now until Mangalore (Surathkal) on the KR route. Recently [7/04] it was proposed that KR get monopoly rights to operate such RORO services on the rest of the IR network. Mumbai-Ahmadabad and Mumbai-Kochi are said to be among the routes being considered for this.

Wagon Pooling

What is Wagon Pooling?

Each zonal railway of IR has a fleet of freight wagons that it owns. Of necessity, most freight trains traverse through territory of more than one zonal railway, and wagons of one railway may end up outside their home zone after a run. Wagon Pooling refers to the practice of allowing other zonal railways to use the wagons for their own freight trains. In effect, the wagons from all zonal railways are 'pooled' together and scheduled for goods trains indiscriminately, without a zone giving preference to wagons it owns. Pooling generally increases wagon utilization, since it avoids transshipment from one zone's wagons to another zone's wagons at zonal boundaries, and also avoids having wagons return empty to their home railway. It also minimizes shunting as a result and improves yard and siding utilization.Generally speaking, most wagons used for long-distance freight are pooled wagons and

participate in the pooling. See below for non-pooled and local traffic wagons which do not participate in wagon pooling.Wagon pooling is also applied outside IR. Wagons may be pooled with non-IR organizations such as industrial plants (power stations, collieries, mines, cement works, etc.). Additional, wagons are also pooled with foreign railways such as Bangladesh Railway and Pakistan Railways. IR wagons venture on to the Pakistani and Bangladeshi networks as part of cross-border goods traffic, and similarly wagons from those railways enter IR's network. These wagons do not have to return immediately, and may be used for goods movements outside their home railways - but usually these are returned fairly soon.Obviously, with wagon pooling a concern that arises is how wagons are to be maintained and overhauled. As a general rule, wagons are to return to their home railways every 3 years for periodic overhaul (POH). This is usually indicated as a stenciled notation, e.g., 'Return 7/93' indicating a return required to the home railway by June 1993. Ordinary inspection and most minor maintenance at yards and at stations en route is of course carried out by whichever railway happens to have the wagons at the time. (In fact, wagons cannot be interchanged if they have serious defects; the railway which has the wagon at the time then must fix the defect.)The Directorate of Wagon Interchange (DWI) under the IRCA is responsible for coordinating all wagon interchanges across IR. Officers in charge of wagon interchange are assigned to each nodal point where interchange occurs.Each railway's wagons are enumerated and kept track of. Based on the goods traffic needs of a particular railway, it may require more or fewer wagons than it actually owns. A creditor railway is one which needs fewer wagons than it needs, so that its surplus wagons are, in effect, 'loaned' out to other railways. A debtor railway, similarly, is one which needs more wagons than it has, so that it has to 'borrow' wagons from the wagon pool for its operations. For the privilege of using wagons over the number that a railway owns, it has to pay rental charges. These hire charges vary by type of wagon. As an example, 4-wheeled BG wagons had hire charges of Rs 66 a day in the 1970s. Currently [2010] they are around Rs 387 a day. Industrial (non-IR) users were charged Rs 1038, Bangladesh Railway Rs 665, and Pakistan Railway Rs 1000. Hire charges for MG wagons are around Rs 204 a day, for non-railways users Rs 464, and for BR, Rs 290.The DWI computes the Pool Target for each zonal railway which is the number of pooled wagon it can have at any time in order to run its expected goods operations smoothly. These are often denoted relative to the number of wagons the railway owns: A pool target of +2000 implies that the zonal railway must do with 2000 fewer wagons than it owns, and therefore must be a creditor railway. Similarly, a pool target of -2000 implies the railway is a debtor railway and will use 2000 more wagons than the number it owns. As excessive holdings of wagons by a particular zonal railway lead to inefficiency, the DWI is empowered to instruct railways to reduce their holdings, and impose fines when pool targets are not maintained.At each Interchange Point, or junction where interchange occurs between railways, goods traffic needs to be regulated to maintain traffic flow, as well as to ensure adherence to pool targets. For this purpose, Junction Quotas are determined, which specify the number of wagons to be interchanged each day between individual railways at the interchange point, in each direction. Junction quotas in the case of highly asymmetric traffic routes may specify a particular number of empties to be returned in the reverse direction. The railway that works the junction or

interchange point is known as the Working Railway, and the other railways interchanging their wagons at that junction are called the Using Railways. A wagon is interchanged between the working railway and the using railway when it enters or leaves the junction. Equalization is the process of ensuring that the flow of wagons between two interchanging railways is equal in both directions at the interchange point. This is not always the case, when traffic flows are not symmetric. Over equalization refers to a railway handing over more wagons than it receives in return; the opposite situation is under equalization. For instance, NR hands over coal wagons from ER to WR at Agra East Bank, and is over equalized with WR, because WR does not return the wagons to NR by the same route. WR hands over the released empties to CR in the return direction - it is over equalized with CR; the empties pass over CR to Ajni and Katni to SER and back to the colliery regions. The situation can be more complex if the wagons are not returning empty but being used for some other highly directional goods traffic on the return trip. The DWI issues instructions regarding junction quotas and equalization. Strict equalization is not always required - railways often over equalize with another railway at one junction but under equalize by a matching amount at another.As the working railway is placed at a disadvantage since it holds wagons at its junction even though it is not utilizing them, a Junction Allowance used to be specified to compensate for the extra wagon hours at the junction; this has since been dispensed with.An Interchange Message noting the total numbers of wagons interchanged over a day may look like the following (example from Railway Operation by Francis DaCosta).

MGS 5/1

RAILCON-NDLS C/-COPS NDLS CCC DS NR

20 JN - Interchange midnight ending 4.1.80

AD 2813 CL 1073 CE 28 OL 1709 OE 3

DA 3085 CL 493 CE 826 OL 1125 OE 641

In the above interchange message which records the total interchanges as of midnight following the working day, a stands for ER, and D for NR. C = Covered wagons and O = Open wagons. L = Loaded, E = Empty.In addition to the aggregate information about numbers of interchanged wagons, individual car movement records are also maintained, so that overdue or missing wagons can be identified easily. The divisional wagon balance is calculated as of midnight each day.At each interchange junction, wagons to be interchanged are inspected. A defect found in a wagon may be classified as a Penalty Defect in some cases, and is racked up as a debit to the railway offering the wagon. A defect that is serious enough that the wagon cannot be used is classified as a Rejection Defect and the wagon remains with the offering railway, which may offer it again after fixing the problem. No actual monetary fines are levied; but the statistics on defects provide an indication of the level of maintenance of wagons by a railway. Rejection defects increase the holdings of wagons on a railway's books, and therefore may render it liable

for fines if it exceeds its pool targets as a result.History: Originally, with the separate railways that existed in India, there was no concept of wagon pooling. Each railway used its own wagons on its lines, and wagons from foreign railways were operated only by specially negotiated agreements among the railways. For instance, much coal loaded by the East Indian Railway was done on its own wagons, and transshipped to wagons of other railways at transshipment points. The inefficient utilization of the wagons in the prevailing system became very apparent during World War 1 when the demands of goods traffic rose sharply. Emergency orders were issued allowing indiscriminate loading of goods on any available wagons regardless of which railway owned them. The Indian Railway Conference Association (IRCA) carried out a review of the new practice and after further experiments, in 1925 it was decided as a policy that wagons should generally be pooled. The IRCA was given control over the wagon interchange policies and procedures.Wagon pooling at first applied only to BG wagons. As there were many more - and very small - railways operating on MG, it took longer to coordinate the arrangements for wagon pooling among them. The MG network of northern India had wagon pooling from 1939, and the southern MG network had wagon pooling from 1950.

Where are IR's wagon interchange points?

There are many interchange points between zonal railways for BG goods wagons - practically any junction near a zonal boundary which sees significant BG goods traffic counts as one. For MG wagons, there are four principal interchange points: Khandwa for SCR/WR, Himmatnagar for WR/NWR, Purnia for NFR/ECR, and Forbes Ganj for NFR/NER. International interchange points include Attari for NR with Pakistan Railway, Ranaghat and Petrapole for ER with Bangladesh Railway, Singhabad for NFR with Bangladesh Railway (all BG), and Radhikapur and Mahishasan for MG interchange between NFR and Bangladesh Railway.

What are non-pooled wagons and local traffic wagons?

These are wagons that do not participate in wagon pooling. Some wagons may be marked as Non-Pooled Wagons (usually stenciled 'N.P.' on the wagons) - these are usually some special-purpose high-capacity wagons used by various railways that generally earmarked for some particular operations on that railway or on particular routes. They do travel to other zones, but are not scheduled for further trips by the other railways. When they are loaded to adjoining railways, they are usually marked to be sent back to a station on the route they took, or back to their home railway by any route.A few other wagons in each railway may also not participate in wagon pooling - these are local traffic wagons, which are usually low-capacity wagons used for internal movements such as departmental trains and which do not venture outside their home zone.

Types of Freight Trains

Q. What are the different types of goods trains?

Goods trains are classified into a few different categories. Departmental trains are trains run for internal purposes of the railway, such as track maintenance or conveying equipment. They may be ballast trains or other material trains. Breakdown trains and other special-purpose trains for dealing with accidents are also considered to be departmental trains.Work trains are trains used for short-distance movements of freight, especially small packages ('smalls') transshipped from long-distance freight trains. Shunting trains are used for moving wagons to different stations in a section, and are involved only in attaching and detaching such wagons. They are also known as section trains (especially on CR) and pick-up trains elsewhere. They are known as pilots if they run for a very short distance, for just a few stations. Trains with wagons that are actually loaded or unloaded with smalls at various stations are called Road Vans, or transship trains (CR) or small’s quick transit (SQT) on ER. Road vans are a vanishing breed these days with the widespread use of block rakes and container traffic and increasing reliance on transshipment of goods from freight terminals to road transport for onward delivery rather than transporting smalls by rail.Through goods trains are freight trains transporting goods from one goods yard to the next without stoppage at intermediate points. Long-distance goods, also known as solid trains include various special long-distance freight trains that get precedence, such as the Freight Chief or other Express Goods trains with timetabled operations and guaranteed delivery time (including QTS or Quick Transit Service goods), Jumbo trains, and Sherpa trains. The remainder of the through goods trains, which run at lower precedence, are known as Ordinary Through trains.

Q. What's a 'mini-rake'?

A half-size goods rake (20 wagons), available for booking under special tariffs. See above.

Q. What's a 'jumbo' or 'super-jumbo' rake?

The term 'jumbo' originated when longer and heavier freight rates could be hauled as better wagons (bogie stock), more powerful locos, and air-braking begin to come into use. A 'jumbo' rake is usually a BCX/BOY/etc. rake of up to 3500-3750 tones, which is much larger than the old 'CG' rakes which used to be limited to 1800 tons or so. All air-braked rakes of BCN/BCNA wagons up to 4500-4750 tones are known as 'super-jumbo' rakes. See the section on freight.

Q. What are Link Trains?

Among goods trains, Link Trains are or were those with a pre-specified regular weekly or daily schedule (the 'link' for the train). Often, these goods trains had dedicated sets of crew, and these trains were usually given priority by the controllers as well. High utilization is achieved by extended running with longer distances between rake examinations. Today, the term is not used much, and there are a variety of high-priority timetabled goods services that use the same management principles. Historically, the introduction of Link Trains was a significant step in improving the efficiency of goods services.Very early, in steam days, generally the Assigned Crew system was followed, where a single set of crew members (one driver and two firemen) were attached to a locomotive permanently, and

travelled with it on all trips. The sense of ownership and dedication resulted in the crew taking very good care of the locomotive, and the system worked while goods traffic requirements remained low. However, utilization was lower than it could be, since the locomotive had to remain stabled any time the crew were resting, as required for instance by the rules around hours of running duty. In the 1930s, the Pooled Crew system was introduced, where crew were not assigned permanently to a locomotive, but instead assigned to an engine when it was ready to run. This increased the utilization of the engines. With the outbreak of World War II, there were greatly increased demands for goods traffic; there was a shortage of spares, and many junior staff on account of large numbers of promotions given to cope with the need to run more trains. All this combined, especially on CR, to lead to massive congestion of goods traffic, and average goods train speeds dropped to below 30km/h. It was in an effort to alleviate this situation that Link Trains were introduced. Daily paths were set up - these schedules were known as links. The link trains were organized so they would skip some intermediate stops for coaling/watering. A few sets of crew members were allocated to each locomotive. When a link train was to be run, one set of crew would run the loco all the way to the destination point (the out-station), and sign off there, and another set would make the return journey. The first link train on this system was run in 1942, using two XP engines to haul goods not he 395km Bhusaval-Nagpur section. The engines were able to log 9500km a month, far higher than the typical engine utilization of the time. In 1945 the system was extended to the then new and powerful AWE engines on the Bhusaval division. Five goods trains were run on fixed links using 9 AWE engines from Bhusaval to Igatpuri. The system was further improved by using extended engine runs that used line side coaling and watering facilities outside the sheds to allow engines to skip sheds and save time. Trains were not remarshalled at intermediate points. This was used for instance on the approximately 400km route between Daund and Raichur, and between Jhansi and Delhi. Watering stations were staggered, so that successive trains on a route used alternating watering stations - this was especially helped by the introduction of WG and YG locomotives with high tender water capacity. C&W examination was also extended to happen only once in 360km or so. Engines and rakes were allowed to run 800km after an extended examination, and 300km yard to yard after a 'safe-to-run' examination.Even today, Jumbo rakes and other high-priority goods rakes are allowed to run without detailed examination at intermediate points. Of course, with the introduction of diesel and electric traction considerations of watering and coaling points are no longer a concern.

Q. What are Crack Trains?

Crack Trains were introduced on ER for similar reasons as for Link Trains on CR. A crack train is run on a link system (scheduled engine and staff). However, as ER is a dense and relatively compact railway zone where extended runs are difficult (200km might constitute an inter-divisional movement), the idea was to run these trains with one set of crew for the outward and homeward journeys, by having a very quick turn-around (1 hour or less) at the out-station. The outward and homeward journeys together constituted just one cycle of duty for the crew. The turn-around was done if possible in the outstation yard itself without visiting the outstation shed. A goods rake for the return journey was kept ready and waiting in the other portion of the yard so that the engine could be coupled to it and start on its return journey as soon as possible. Because the same crew comes back on the homeward journey, the entire trip has to be fairly short, within about 10 hours to comply with regulations on running duty hours, and definitely

within 12 hours. None of the other refinements of CR's link trains such as staggered watering stations were used. The first crack train was run on March 30, 1958 between Gaya and Mughalsarai. On this section, 25 to 30 goods trains ran daily - 24 through goods trains on the Gaya - Son Nagar section and 29 on the Son Nagar - Mughalsarai section. The speeds of these trains in 1958 had come down to about 20km/h. The introduction of crack trains raised the average speed by the end of March 1958 to 40km/h. Crack engines had utilizations up to 9500km per month. Later the system of crack trains was introduced on NR on the Kanpur - Tundla (230km) route, and Mughalsarai - Allahabad (150km). The former was covered (460km round trip) in 12 hours with 40 minutes of outstation detention. To motivate the crew and ensure high performance, crew was made eligible for higher payments when running crack train (in addition to the higher mileage earnings accrued). However, bad performance was punished by summary removal from the roster of crack train crews. In addition, cabin crew and other line side staff were instructed to be extra vigilant in checking for hot axles and other problems on these crack trains. Special procedures were introduced to detach a wagon with a hot axle within 20 minutes. It is said that an IR officer, MS Gujral, who was familiar with how much more effective and popular among soldiers military marches were when they included returning home to barracks on the same day rather than camping out or at remote barracks, was the one who came up with the key idea behind crack trains.Crack trains persisted in large numbers until about 1973 when the 10 hour rule on running duty was introduced, which led to shorter cycles that were sometimes not as effective. Also, the increasing use of diesels and electrics, where the emphasis was on utilization measured in other ways, slowly led to the diminishing importance of crack trains. They continued to be used on SER for a long time. Special freight trains such as the Rockets, Green Arrow, etc., were all operated on the crack train principle.Later the term 'crack train' was extended to include trains operated on the link train principle (fixed schedule for engine and staff) and skipping at least one locomotive changing station without change of crew, even if the crew did not make the trip back with the same engine right away.Link trains and crack trains both represent landmarks in goods train management in India.

Miscellaneous

Q. Why does a goods train sometimes move backwards briefly before starting to move ahead from a stop?

There are a few different reasons that this happens. One reason (and the official one stated in working timetables) has to do with ensuring the couplers (CBC's) along the rake are all engaged and locked before starting off. The backward push forces the couplers to engage if they are loose, not fully engaged, or if the coupler pins had been inadvertently (or maliciously) lifted while the train was stopped.Another reason is to compress the couplers along the length of the rake, so that when the loco starts moving forward, it has an easier time setting the wagons at the front in motion first before the rear wagons as the slack in the couplers plays out along the length of the rake -- it doesn't

have to set the entire train in motion all at once. This is more important with poor track conditions where the loco cannot develop its full attractive effort before its wheels slips, or with older style bearings on the wagons which have much higher starting friction than the rolling friction encountered when on the move. Bad or older designs of bearings can also stick or bind and increase the starting resistance.A third reason for the backward push is to release brakes where the blocks have stuck to the wheel treads (brake binding); once released by the backward push, there is no further resistance to forward motion. This was more of a problem in the vacuum brake days with poorly maintained brakes. Lastly, in the age before walkie-talkies, the backward push was a way to inform the guard at the rear end that the train was about to set off -- with really long rakes and noisy environments, horn signals might not always work.

Q. Why are there sometimes empty (or water-filled) tankers or other wagons at the end and beginning of rakes carrying petroleum products or other inflammable substances?

These empty or water-filled tankers or other wagons are known as 'guard wagons' and are intended to provide a safety buffer for the tankers carrying inflammable cargo. They are intended to take the brunt of any minor collision so that the tankers carrying the inflammable substances are not themselves damaged leading to possible explosions or major fires. At the head of the rake, next to the loco, another reason for providing guard wagons is to prevent inflammable vapors from the tankers from catching fire either from the hot diesel exhaust from the loco, or sparks at the pantograph from electric locos.