In a determined bid to reduce the carbon footprint in the country, both the PMO and the Planning Commission are pushing for the development of an effective inland water transport system and a more effective rail service.
Already the PMO has identified several new river routes, including the Ganga-Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia. Other routes identified are Kolkata-Tripura via Bangldesh and Pandu-Kolkata via Bangladesh.
Trade through a foreign country is covered by the Protocol on Inland Water Transport and Trade and PMO sources admit that getting a green signal from Bangladesh for transit facilities will need to be worked out.
A viable inland water transport system will also need to over come the problem of our “shrinking” rivers which often become little more than rivulets and streams during the summer months creating obstacles for the movement of load carrying barges.
The Planning Commission expert group on low carbon strategies for inclusive growth are pushing for increased use of high-speed trains as their carbon footprint is much less than that of road and air transport.
A recent RITES study highlights that a high speed train will emit 4 kg of carbon to move 100 passengers over a kilometre, as compared to 14 kg by cars and 17 kg by an aeroplane.
The Railways Vision 2020 document states that 2000 km of high speed corridors need to be built to allow trains to run at over 300 kmph per hour, thereby, cutting train travel time by half.
To emphasise this point, a senior member of the Planning Commission pointed out that during 2007-08, the railways carbon emission for moving one tonne of freight over a kilometre was three tones while during the same period, the road sectors carbon emission for the same was 66 tonnes. Inter-city passenger trains emitted four tonnes of carbon for every passenger per kilometre compared to 35 tonnes for road transport.
This infrastructure will come at a heavy price and the first bullet train that the railways wants to build between the Pune-Ahmedabad 650 km stretch will cost `85 crore per km.