India’s network of Roads, Railways and Ports is one of the largest in the world serving a land mass of 3.3 million square km and a population of over one billion.

Over the last 50 years, the growth of this network and the demand for transport services has been enormous. The volume of railway freight has increased five-fold, the length of surfaced roads has multiplied by nine-fold and the tonnage of freight handled by the nations expanding system of major and minor ports has grown more than 16 fold.

The existing issues and concerns, the congestion and constraints in movement leading to higher transport costs and other unfinished tasks will be some of the challenges that need to be met. A huge increase in demand for both railways and road transport will require massive investments to meet the growth in demand and public expectations.

Considering the developing nature of the country and the deficiencies in its transport system, a larger proportion of resources will need to be invested in improvements to the transport infrastructure.