4.5.1. Recommendations of Rakesh Mohan Committee (National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTPDC))

The Government of India set up the NTDPC in the year 2010, under the chairmanship of Dr. Rakesh Mohan. The aim of NTDPC was to provide a long-term transport policy for the country up to the year 2029-30.

♤ Increase in investment in railways from 0.4 per cent of GDP in 11th plan to 0.8 per cent in 12th plan and 1.1 per cent in 13th plan and beyond.

♤ Separation of railways management and operations from the Government. The Ministry of Railways in the future should be limited to setting policies. A new Railways Regulatory Authority should be setup, which would be responsible for overall regulation including the setting of tariffs. The management and operations should be carried out by a corporatized entity, the Indian Railway Corporation (IRC) (to be setup as a statutory corporation).

♤ Accounting system to be revamped into a company account format in line with the Indian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).

♤ Indian Railways should take steps to capture a significant share of the fast growing FMCG, Consumer Durable and Information Technology, containerized cargo and other segments like automobiles, etc, where its presence is negligible.

♤ Strategy for passenger services should include augmentation of supply, shift of focus to long distance and inter-city transport, upgradation of speed and development of select High Speed Rail corridors.

♤ Improved connectivity to industry clusters as well as significant ports, based on their current and projected traffic volumes.

♤ Development of 15-20 logistics parks at the main network hubs such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi NCR etc.

♤ Construction of six Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) on top priority.

♤ Establishment of National Board for Rail Safety & Establishment of Railway Research and Development Council.

♤ Setting up a National Railway Construction Authority, partially independent of Ministry of Railways, to expedite delivery of projects.

♤ Multiple services and cadres of Railways at the management level need to be rationalized and coalesced into fewer services.

♤ Indian Railways should expedite the execution and operationalization of identified inter- connectivity projects.