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Between 2001-02 and 2006-07, the combined cargo volume handled by rail and road increased from 2,046.10 million tonnes (mt) to 3,464.25 mt, but the share of the rail cargo dropped from 24.07 per cent (492.50 mt) to 21.01 per cent (728.41 mt). Which means the share of the road sector steadily increased from 75.93 per cent (1,553.60 mt) to 78.99 per cent (2,735.84 mt). No wonder, the Railway Minister, while presenting his Ministry’s Budget for 2008-09, announced severa l measures ostensibly to boost the share of the rail in the total traffic. Some of the measures such as 40 per cent discount on all freight traffic in the empty flow direction, special lump sum rates for unclassified items, composite rate for commodities not covered in goods tariff and discount for traffic moving into the North East, are innovative. Whether all these will be able to reverse the trend is of course remains to be seen.

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