Roadways pip railways again

Even as fuel costs continued to rise, roadways pipped railways in freight revenue in fiscal 2005-06...

Even as fuel costs continued to rise, roadways pipped railways in freight revenue in fiscal 2005-06, not only generating more than three times freight but also improving its share in the overall freight movement in the country. While the year was one of the better fiscals for railways with a revenue of Rs 55,000 crore, roadways have fared much better at Rs 210,000 crore.

The figures released by Indian foundation of transport research and training IFTRT do not consider distances less than 150 km to make the comparison more relevant. But if the full distance is taken into account the gap widens further as the roadways revenue goes upto Rs 2,70,000 crore.

The stellar performance by the roadways is despite the high fuel costs and other input costs which are also on a rise. The impact of these is evident in the spiralling rentals which have gone up by almost 66 per cent since 2001-02. On the other hand the railways freight story has been more about improving efficiency and reducing costs helped by the fact that it is not entirely dependent on diesel as a fuel. Overall, railway freight rates have increased by only 8-9 per cent in the last four years.

While the bullishness in the freight movement is symbolic of the growing economy, railways might just be losing its eminence as the primary mode for transportation of high density goods. The commercial vehicle segment has slowly graduated to multi axle trucks which are primarily developed for high density cargo. The shift which was a trickle two years ago has turned into a wave this year with an growth rate of over 50 per cent every month.

8220;The Supreme Court ruling banning overloading in trucks last November saw a shift from twin axle to multi axle trucks which has gathered momentum with time. Further today 35-45 tonne trucks are more in demand than the 25-35 tonne trucks thus proving that more and more high density is moving on roads,8221; said Senior Fellow at IFTRT, S P Singh.

Sale of multi axle trucks has increased from 39,161 units in 2002-03 to 85,131 units in the last fiscal. This fiscal the number of new multi axle trucks on Indian roads is expected to touch 150,000 units.