Indian Railways over the years has lost its share in freight transport from over 70 per cent in early eighties to about 30 per cent currently. This gradual decline also coincided with railway’s stated policy to concentrate mainly in bulk transport, capacity constraints particularly on important freight routes, and higher freight tariff needed for cross-subsidizing passenger losses. The monopoly advantage once Railways enjoyed in freight transportation has eroded with betterment of road infrastructure, terminal delays along with additional costs for first and last mile connections necessitated by nature of rail transport. These have made rail uncompetitive vis-à-vis its biggest competitor, road.
