The main issues involved in sustainable and carbon-friendly integrated freight movement are strategising, planning and implementation of a “low carbon path dedicated freight corridor” (LCP-DFC) which would facilitate adoption of various technological options, operation in a more energy-efficient manner and exploration of options to offset its own GHG emissions by investing in solar/wind and afforestation.
The key issues in freight transportation in India, as per the World Bank study, are highly competitive and low cost, high-transit time, overloading of vehicles, poor infrastructure, barriers to free movement and lack of safety.
The basic requirements for a freight strategy/logistics network at regional and national level are:
- Strategy to consider routes, precincts and terminals that serve the major cities
- Strategy to look into connectivity of all major freight cluster sites (Rail, Road, inter & intra-State, Port & Aviation)
- Strategy to integrate freight transport and land-use planning
- Strategy to include different aspects of improving vehicular efficiency/vehicular movement, thereby reducing energy usage and minimizing climate change impact
- Strategy to promote efficient usage of available infrastructure and augment infrastructure capacity to integrate the freight cluster sites
An integrated transportation policy (passenger & freight) aims at seamless connectivity with all modes of transport and promotion of infrastructure support for transportation of passenger and goods to meet the projected demand.
There is need for continual assessment of infrastructure and operational performance indicators. Currently, freight data is inadequate. It is more descriptive rather than analytical. Considerable freight and transport infrastructure performance-related data, particularly for major transport corridors, should be made available. Also required is an intelligent transportation monitoring system to monitor, respond and to evaluate continually the effectiveness of the infrastructure and its performance.
There is also need for urban planning framework, considering impacts of energy and climate change from freight, to understand the key environmental impacts of transportation, and to design a comprehensive system which enables sustainable development.
Sustainable development is made possible through optimal vehicular size and minimizing congestion, resulting in an effective traffic management system (timings, loading, safety, etc.), and through effective land-use planning.
India’s transport sector is large and diverse. It contributed about 5.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP in 2007, with road transportation contributing the major share. However, the sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on the economy.
Roads carry almost 90 per cent of the country’s passenger traffic and 65 per cent of its freight. The intensity of India’s highway network – at 0.66 km of highway per sq. km of land – is similar to that of the US (0.65) and much greater than China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20). However, most highways in India are narrow and congested with poor surface quality.
The key challenges in the Indian transport sector are the rapidly increasing number of vehicles with the growing economy and the associated problems of traffic congestion, deterioration in the quality of service and efficiency of both private and public transport, road accidents, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Roads are congested and of poor quality. Lane capacity is low. Most national highways are two lanes or less. A quarter of all-India highways are congested. Road maintenance remains under-funded, only around one-third of maintenance needs are met. This leads to deterioration of roads and high transport costs for users.
Sustainable transportation development: Environmental impacts
- Air pollution – particulates, SOx, NOx, air toxins
- GHG emissions
- Noise pollution
The points to ponder with regard to sustainable transportation development are:
- Carbon footprinting – assessment, monitoring and strategy
- Promoting the use of bio-fuels
- Exploring possibilities of using renewable sources of energy, such as solar-powered trucks and containers
- Setting up a co-ordination body for inspection and certification of vehicles at the national level
- Introduction of green cess on older vehicles to discourage pollution and create a resource pool to enforce environmental discipline
- Introduction of tighter energy efficiency and emissions standards
- Pricing transport for energy efficiency. Most Western European countries levy high fuel taxes as well as annual licence plate fees and varying levels of vehicle purchase taxes
- Policy incentives to stimulate hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell freight vehicles in the city
- Enforcing emission restrictions and labelling for trucks / containers. In 2001, Beijing introduced an environmental labeling system for vehicles. High emission vehicles that are below Euro I standard are identified with yellow labels, while green labels are provided to newer vehicles with more updated emission systems.
High-emission vehicles are being slowly phased out and barred from entering the city center.