NEW DELHI: Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that the Indian Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) to create a “future ready” Railway system by 2030.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Goyal said the NRP is aimed to formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase the modal share of the Railways in freight to 45 per cent.

The Rail Minister said that the objective of the National Rail Plan is to create capacity ahead of demand, which in turn would also cater to future growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways to 45 per cent in freight traffic and to continue to sustain it.

The draft plan has been put up in the public domain and is also being circulated amongst stakeholders for comments, he added.

The Minister said that urban transport is an integral part of urban development which is a state subject. Respective state governments are, therefore, responsible for initiating and developing urban transport infrastructure, including metro rail projects/MetroLite/MetroNeo in cities or urban agglomerates.

The Central Government considers financial assistance for metro rail proposals, on the basis of the feasibility of the proposal and availability of resources, as and when posed by the concerned state governments. Details of new technologies are as MetroLite, MetroNeo.

Giving details over other steps taken by the government to reform Railways Goyal said that Business Development Units (BDUs) have been set up to attract new business by providing compelling value-for-money logistics solutions.

Indian Railways is undertaking a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach for Passenger Train Operations to enhance overall service quality and operational efficiency, the Minister said in a written reply.

Indian Railways has leveraged digital platforms to encourage transparency in all the facets of functioning to enhance customer satisfaction and outreach, he added.