Basic HTML Version
116
MOTORINDIA
l
July 2012
Creating carbon-neutral Chennai
with integrated freight movement
The main issues involved in
sustainable and carbon-friendly
integrated freight movement are
strategising, planning and imple-
mentation of a “low carbon path
dedicated freight corridor” (LCP-
DFC) which would facilitate
adoption of various technological
options, operation in a more ener-
gy-efficient manner and explora-
tion of options to offset its own
GHG emissions by investing in
solar/wind and afforestation.
The key issues in freight trans-
portation in India, as per the
World Bank study, are highly
competitive and low cost, high-
transit time, overloading of vehi-
cles, 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:
v
Strategy to consider routes, pre-
cincts and terminals that serve the
major cities
v
Strategy to look into connectiv-
ity of all major freight cluster sites
(Rail, Road, inter & intra-State,
Port & Aviation)
v
Strategy to integrate freight trans-
port and land-use planning
v
Strategy to include different as-
pects of improving vehicular ef-
ficiency/vehicular
movement,
thereby reducing energy usage
and minimizing climate change
impact
v
Strategy to promote efficient us-
age 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 transporta-
tion of passenger and goods to meet
the projected demand.
There is need for continual assess-
ment of infrastructure and opera-
tional performance indicators. Cur-
rently, freight data is inadequate. It
is more descriptive rather than an-
alytical. Considerable freight and
transport infrastructure perform-
ance-related data, particularly for
major transport corridors, should
be made available. Also required
is an intelligent transportation
monitoring system to monitor, re-
spond and to evaluate continually
the effectiveness of the infrastruc-
ture and its performance.
There is also need for urban
planning framework, consider-
ing impacts of energy and cli-
mate change from freight, to un-
derstand the key environmental
impacts of transportation, and to
design a comprehensive system
which enables sustainable devel-
opment.
Sustainable development is made
possible through optimal vehicular
size and minimizing congestion,
resulting in an effective traffic man-
agement 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 con-
tributing the major share. However,
the sector has not been able to keep
pace with rising demand and is prov-
ing to be a drag on the economy.
Roads carry almost 90 per cent
Mr. K. Swaminathan Krishnamurthy,
Associate Director,
Climate Change &
Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young
emission control