Rail Transport Market in India 2012

Growth in international trade provides huge impetus to the growth in container rail market. Indian Railways earns the lions share from rail freight revenue owing to its dynamic tariff policy. With the privatization of the container rail service, rail freight gains popularity providing further scope for capturing higher market share.

The report begins with an introduction section, listing down the basic statistics of Indian Railways as of Feb, 2012, followed by the value chain of the rail freight market.

Market overview section provides a brief snapshot of the Rail Transport Market. This section includes the market size of the rail freight market in India in terms of freight revenue earning by value and freight revenue earning by volume over the period (Apr - Dec) 2009-10 and (Apr - Dec) 2011-12, demonstrating the corresponding share of freight commodities in the year (Apr - Dec) 2011-12. The section then lists the tonnage and earnings share of the top 30 freight commodities in 2010-11. Some efficiency indices of the rail freight operation are also given in this section.

The next section deals with the revenue generation of Indian Railways from rail freight earning. A snapshot is mapped followed by the illustration of the revenue earning by value and by volume in the 16 zonal railways in the last three years. The section then proceeds with the freight loading of the 9 major commodities in 2011-12, added with their future prospects. The projected freight loading by Indian Railways by 2020 is also shown here.

Freight services initiatives section highlights the initiatives for freight services and initiatives for the dedicated freight corridor.

Freight marketing schemes section describes the existing schemes undertaken by the Indian Railways for improving its freight marketing.

Vision 2020 section points the plans by Indian Railways for 2020 followed by its short term & long term targets. Technology, development of human capital and a culture of innovation along with availability of adequate resources will aid Indian Railways to achieve its targets. The operational strategies needed to achieve these goals are also briefly described here.

Drivers and challenges section in the report provides a comprehensive set of factors which boosts and hinders the growth in the market. An analysis of the section brings forth the key drivers fueling growth in the market including shift from road to rail by private players, increasing export-import, dynamic tariff policy and opportunity in emerging sector. While the challenges identified comprises of service quality, increase in rail freight rates and problems with connectivity.

The competition section profiles the container rail players in details within the report which enables readers to get a clear picture of the current competitive scenario. The section lists the basic details of the players such as corporate information, business highlights and key members. The section also features financial analysis of key vendors which in turn provides us with the financial health of players.

The next section enlists the future requirements and investments including modernization initiatives & investment requirements, total investment requirements for modernization, PPP Initiatives, priority projects, ICT improvements to facilitate rail freight, indigenous developments, investments and resource mobilization through PPPs (Next 10 years). Further it discusses Indian Railway's cooperation with State Governments and the developments of rail based industries in near future.

The strategic recommendations section highlights the opportunities of the container rail operators in the current scenario. Prevalence of competition among 16 players coupled with market forces will ensure fair charges and services for customers providing superior linkage between container rail operators and customers.