National Rail Plan Vision 2030 was prepared by Indian Railways to create future ready Indian Railways by the year 2030. National rail plan vision 2030 is an important topic for UPSC Civil Services Exam. The recent tragic railway accident in Balasore (June 2023) has once again highlighted Railway policies.
- The NRP is aimed at formulating strategies and policies to increase the modal share of Indian Railways in freight to 45% of total.
- Creation of capacity before future demand, looking at the 2050 horizon so that there is no overstress on railway infrastructure.
Main Objectives of National Rail Plan Vision 2030
- Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%.
- Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50 km/h.
- As part of the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as 100% electrification, multi-tracking of congested routes, upgradation of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.
- Identify new Dedicated Freight Corridors.
- Identify new High Speed Rail Corridors.
- Assess rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
- Assess Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
- Assess the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
- Sustained involvement of the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development/operations of track infrastructure etc.
In the wake of Coromandel Express accident in Balasore, the issues of railway safety, passenger experience specially in general and sleeper class, decongestion, confirmation of waitlisted tickets, etc. have been raised. Therefore, National Rail Plan Vision 2030 UPSC notes given here becomes important for IAS Exam. Candidates can cite the plan or use some points in their answers.
Also Read:
LHB, ICF, TCAS, Kavach: Issues of Railway Safety in Indian Railways