Railways rides climate wave with green point ratings to garner more freight

Currently, the national transporter's freight basket is dominated by coal and iron ore, which cumulatively accounts for over 60 per cent of its freight volume

Close on the heels of other companies pushing for greater awareness on climate change, the Indian Railways is introducing a rating system, allotting rail green points (RGPs) to companies that choose railways over road transport to ferry goods, as the latter leads to carbon emissions which is 4x that of railways.

“Freight customers should be aware of the reduction in emission by opting to transport via railways. The savings will be estimated in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne and credited to the customer as RGPs. An RGP account will be maintained for every freight customer in freight operations