CONTENTS : CHAPTER-1 2 INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 NEED FOR THE STUDY 3 1.2 KEY RESEARCH QUESTION 5 1.3 AIM & OBJECTIVE 5 1.4 OBJECTIVE 5 1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 5 1.6 LIMMITATION OF THE STUDY 6 1.7 METHODOLOGY 6 CHATER – 2 9 LITRATURE REVIEW 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT 9 2.1.1 Freight Transportation Modes 10 2.2 Freight Transportation in India 11 2.2.1 Rail Transportation in India 14 2.3 Trends in Growth of Indian Rail Freight Transport 17 2.4 Competitive Modes 19 2.5 CASE STUDY 21 CHAPTER – 3 30 FACTORS AFFECT MODE CHOICE 30 3.1 FACTOR AFFECT MODE CHOICE 30 3.1.1 Nature of the Commodity 30 3.1.2 Distance 31 3.1.3 Cost 34 3.1.3.1 Transportation cost: 34 3.1.3.2 Loading – Unloading Cost: 35 3.1.3.3 Labor Cost: 37 3.1.4 Quantity 37 3.1.5 Service provided by Mode 39 3.1.5.1 Loading Unloading: 39 3.1.5.2 Rake system in Railways: 40 3.1.5.3…Last mile Connectivity and Accessibility: 40 3.1.5.4 Availability of Vehicles/Wagons: 40 3.1.5.5 Safety: 41 3.1.5.6 Delivery time: 41 3.1.5.7…Rail and Road Container Services: 41 3.1.6 Weather Condition 42 3.1.7 When People shift mode from road to rail and Road to rail: 43 3.2 Over all Advantage & Disadvantages with Rail and Road Freight Transportation 43 3.2.1 Advantage with Rail Freight Transport 43 3.2.2 Disadvantage with Rail Freight Transport 43 3.2.3 Advantage with Road Freight Transportation 44 3.2.4 Disadvantages with road transportation: 45 3.3 Important perameter - User perspective 45 3.3 Over All Circumstances on which people decide Mode for freight Transportation 47 CHAPTER 4 49 CONCLUSION 49 4.1 Conclusion 49 4.2 Recommendation 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY 51