Public Utility Characteristics of Railways in India

To serve Indian economy railways carry different category of freight traffics like coal, iron ore, food grains, steel, fertilizer and mineral oil, etc. Dispersal of some of these freights is limited compared to other traffics which ambit of outreach is quite large. Food grains and fertilizers are such freights which reach wider section of population, transporting thereby railways carry off its public utility responsibilities. From this perspective, public utility characteristics of railways in India is attempted to study by analyzing the trend and pattern of aggregate freight flow, particularly food grains and fertilizer traffic for the study period 1965- 2014 with special reference to region served by North Eastern Frontier Railways (NEFR).