For infrastructure planning, a new transport database

The study calls for an integrated inter-modal solution for the transport sector, drawing attention to the increasing private vehicles encroaching on the space for public transport. It says that there is a lack of uniformity in terms of motor vehicle rules, as states follow their own set of regulations. Moreover, appraisal of road projects does not take into account the possible adverse impact on highway traffic capacity, caused by detours and congestion.

The first phase of the study is already complete and the second round is expected to end by next month-end. The study will collect data on inter-regional rail, road and air traffic as well as commodity flow for coastal shipping. It will be completed by December 2008.

The inter-regional traffic volume, along with cost assessments of various transport modes and inputs for forecasting future transport demand, will be collected and collated for the study.

“Besides collecting data on their own through surveys, RITES is tapping ministry databases and other independent organisations to expand the database and add to the origin-destination based features. RITES has recommended that in view of the increasing vehicle population, data collection must be improved by starting a Uniform Code list for all places in the country, a central database authority, and monitoring of all goods vehicle movement/ commodity movement flow through the use of electronic identification tags,” added the official.

Transport FactfileS

Share of trucks has decreased from 92 per cent in 1980s to 72 per cent in 2007-08, while it has increased substantially for tempos and also for tankers and trailers and all multi-axle vehicles.

Over 38% goods vehicles are moving over distances more than 500 km, and 30 per cent are in the distance slab of less than 100 km.

In terms of commodities, the highest share is that of building material and iron & steel, followed by fruits and vegetables.

The highest degree of overloading has been found in vehicles carrying building material (90 per cent) and coal/ rice/ wheat (65 per cent)

In Railways freight traffic share, the longest lead traffic is food grain, followed by pig iron and finished products with 1000 km average travel distance. The growth of the rail network has been less compared to the GDP and population growth since 1951.

Air traffic has increased seven times from 1980 at an annual growth of 7.6 per cent. The fleet size of airlines has more than doubled in the last 11 years, showing an annual growth of 7.8 per cent.

Mumbai-Delhi

The busiest air passenger and freight corridor is Mumbai-Delhi. Mumbai handles largest number of passengers, followed by Delhi and Bangalore.

Visakhapatnam, Mumbai and Paradip ports featured as the top three ports in coastal cargo handling. Major commodities handled by them are thermal core and crude oil.