A modern and efficient multimodal transportation network is critical to economic expansion, trade competitiveness, regional integration, and social mobility. Despite progress in roads, railways, aviation, and waterways, India’s transport system remains fragmented, unevenly developed, and poorly integrated.
India’s mismatched Transport system is obstructing growth:
· Overdependence on Roads:
- Roads carry 87% of passenger movement and 60–65% freight, despite being costliest per ton-km leading to high logistics cost of 13–14% of GDP (vs 8% in China, 7% in EU).
- Heavy reliance on roads increases fuel use, congestion, and emissions. For example, Trucks stuck on congested NHs raise freight turnaround time to 4 days vs 1 day in China.
· Underutilisation of Railways for Freight:
- Indian Railways carries only 27–30% of freight (down from 80% in 1950s).
- High tariffs and limited last-mile connectivity with ports/industrial hubs restricts modal shift and makes rail uncompetitive.
- For example, DFCs were delayed by a decade and only Eastern & Western DFC sections operational after long lags.
· Neglect of Waterways:
- Inland Water Transport (IWT) accounts for less than 2% of freight, though it costs ₹0.2 per ton-km vs ₹1.5 for roads.
- Poor dredging, limited terminals, and seasonal navigability hinder their utilisation. For example, despite declaring 111 National Waterways, only NW-1 (Haldia–Varanasi) is partially functional.
- Minimal Aviation Infrastructure: Though domestic air passenger traffic growing at 15% annually, Multi-modal airport connectivity is weak. Metro–airport linkages are also limited to major cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad.
· Poor Multi-Modal Integration: Ministries of Road, Railways, Ports, Civil Aviation work in silos resulting in lack of unified logistics planning. For example, Ports handle 95% of India’s trade volume, yet only 10% of cargo reaches them via rail-waterway.
· Structural Bottlenecks:
- Land acquisition delays affect 50% of road projects as per NHAI study.
- Road projects worth 27,000 km have been delayed while Bharatmala Phase-I got pushed to 2025–26.
Government Measures to Correct the Mismatch:
- PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (2021): Integrates 16 ministries for coordinated infrastructure planning and offers GIS-based platform with 200+ layers for route optimization.
- Bharatmala Pariyojana: Focus on economic corridors, border roads, greenfield expressways.
- Dedicated Freight Corridors & Rail Modernization: To increase rail freight share to 45% through initiatives like Vande Bharat, electrification, and signalling modernization to improve efficiency.
- Sagarmala Programme: Modernization of ports, coastal logistics, waterways development.
Way Forward:
· Build an Integrated Multimodal Transport Grid: Align roads, rail, ports, airports, and waterways under Gati Shakti and expand logistics parks and rail-port connectivity.
· Address Land Acquisition Bottlenecks: Digital land records, fair compensation, and faster arbitration.
· Strengthen PPP Ecosystem: Revise HAM, ensure viability gap funding, attract long-term investors.
· Reduce Overdependence on Roads: Incentivize freight shift to rail & waterways through competitive tariffs.
· Professionalize Project Monitoring: Real-time dashboards, independent regulators, and contractual enforcement.
Conclusion:
A harmonized transportation ecosystem is essential for the next phase of India’s economic rise towards a globally competitive, cost-efficient logistics and mobility framework.
‘+1’ Value Addition:
- Moving freight by waterways is Rs 0.20 per tonne-km, rail is Rs 0.60, and road is Rs 1.80.
- Delhi–Mumbai Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) reduces transit time from 72 hours to 24 hours.
- As per the NITI Aayog, Traffic congestion in major cities causes economic losses equivalent to 1.5% of GDP annually.
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