Abstract
Over the last decade, India and China have become leading consumers of energy, especially oil, with freight transportation accounting for a large portion. The growth in total transport energy use is directly correlated with the fast-paced urbanization and industrialization of these two economies. The impact of this road-transport growth has seriously degraded the urban air quality and increased congestion and accidents in cities. In response, a keystone strategy being explored by both countries is to use dedicated infrastructure investments to shift freight movement from road to other modes of transport, including rail. At the same time, road-based transport is becoming increasingly energy efficient, has policy support and retains its door-to-door delivery advantage.