India’s freight logistics landscape is undergoing a significant transformation as Indian Railways advances a strategic modal shift through its innovative Trucks on Trains service, enabled by the Dedicated Freight Corridor network. Designed to address rising freight demand, highway congestion, fuel consumption and environmental concerns, the initiative integrates the agility of road transport with the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of rail-based movement.
As economic activity expands and consumption patterns diversify, long-haul freight movement has increased sharply across the country, placing immense pressure on road infrastructure and contributing to higher logistics costs, emissions and accident risks. Against this backdrop, Indian Railways, through the Dedicated Freight Corridor programme, has introduced Trucks on Trains as a next-generation multimodal logistics solution that redefines long-distance cargo movement.
The Trucks on Trains service allows fully loaded trucks to be transported on specially modified flat wagons over electrified dedicated freight corridors. Trucks complete only the first-mile and last-mile road journeys, while the long-haul segment is shifted to rail. This approach reduces highway congestion, cuts transit time, improves reliability and delivers substantial economic and environmental benefits.
Currently, the service is operational between New Rewari and New Palanpur on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. Spanning approximately 636 kilometres, this corridor has demonstrated the efficiency gains of the model by reducing end-to-end transit time from nearly 30 hours by road to about 12 hours through the integrated road–rail service. The corridor also supports reliable evacuation of freight by shielding long-distance movement from traffic bottlenecks, toll delays and weather-related disruptions common on highways.
The Trucks on Trains service has been structured with a transparent and competitive pricing mechanism. Freight charges are levied on clear weight slabs, with ₹25,543 per wagon for trucks up to 25 tonnes, ₹29,191 for 25 to 45 tonnes, and ₹32,000 for 45 to 58 tonnes. Empty trucks are carried at ₹21,894 per wagon. In a significant incentive for the dairy sector, no GST is levied on milk tankers, enhancing the service’s attractiveness for time-sensitive and perishable cargo. Since January 2024, Open Indent booking has been introduced, allowing logistics operators greater flexibility in planning and scheduling freight movements.
Operational performance during the current financial year highlights growing industry confidence in the model. Between April and December of FY 2025, the service handled 545 rakes, transported over three lakh tonnes of freight and generated revenue of ₹36.95 crore. New Palanpur emerged as a major origin point with 273 rakes, over two lakh tonnes of cargo and revenue of ₹20.18 crore, while New Rewari contributed 272 rakes, around one lakh tonnes and ₹16.76 crore in revenue. The service has seen strong uptake from western India’s freight clusters, particularly in the dairy and FMCG sectors, with major participation from the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation following the relaunch of the service through a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2023.
One of the most significant outcomes of the Trucks on Trains initiative is the large-scale modal shift of freight from road to rail. By transferring the most energy-intensive segment of truck journeys to electrified freight corridors, the service reduces diesel consumption, lowers logistics costs and eases pressure on national highways. Transporters also benefit from the complete avoidance of highway toll expenses over long distances, improving cost predictability and operational margins.
The environmental impact of this shift is substantial. The fully electrified Dedicated Freight Corridor network enables a sharp reduction in carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions. On the Palanpur–Rewari stretch alone, shifting long-haul trucking to rail effectively removes nearly 48,875 trucks from highways for the core journey. This results in estimated diesel savings of about 88.8 lakh litres and avoids approximately 230.9 million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. Reduced truck movement also cuts road dust pollution, improving air quality for communities along major transport routes.
Operational resilience is another key advantage. Road transport is often disrupted by fog, heavy rainfall and extreme weather, particularly in northern India during winter months. Rail operations on dedicated corridors, supported by advanced signalling and controlled right-of-way, are far less vulnerable to such disruptions. By shifting the longest segment of the journey to rail, Trucks on Trains enhances supply chain reliability and ensures continuity even under adverse conditions.
The service also delivers important social and safety benefits. Long-distance truck driving is physically demanding and accident-prone. By reducing continuous driving hours, the model lowers driver fatigue, improves working conditions and contributes to safer highways with fewer accidents and casualties. Reduced road traffic also leads to lower infrastructure wear and decreased public expenditure on highway maintenance.
From a commercial standpoint, Trucks on Trains has emerged as a sustainable revenue stream for rail-based logistics. Since inception, the service has completed over 1,955 trips, moved more than one million tonnes of freight and generated cumulative revenue exceeding ₹131 crore. Strong adoption across dairy, automobiles, FMCG and food processing sectors reflects growing industry confidence in the model’s scalability and reliability.
Future expansion is being supported through the development of new-generation Flat Multipurpose wagons designed to carry trucks more efficiently and safely, along with the addition of new origin–destination terminals across the Dedicated Freight Corridor network. These measures will further reduce first- and last-mile costs and extend the service’s reach to new industrial and agricultural clusters.
Trucks on Trains forms a core component of the broader multimodal logistics vision of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited, complementing high-capacity freight corridors, multimodal cargo terminals and logistics parks. By deploying road and rail where each mode is most efficient, the initiative represents a structural shift in India’s freight transport paradigm.
By combining innovation, electrified infrastructure, competitive pricing, operational resilience and clear environmental and social gains, Indian Railways is demonstrating that freight movement can be faster, cleaner and more reliable, positioning Trucks on Trains as a cornerstone of India’s future-ready logistics ecosystem.
