Introduction Transport in the Republic of India is an important part of the nation's economy.

Since the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, development of infrastructure within the country has progressed at a rapid pace, and today there is a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air. However, India's relatively low GDP per capita has meant that access to these modes of transport has not been uniform. Motor vehicle penetration is low by international standards, with only 103 million cars on the nation's roads. In addition, only around 10% of Indian households own a motorcycle. At the same time, the automobile industry in India is rapidly growing with an annual production of over 4.6 million vehicles, and vehicle volume is expected to rise greatly in the future. In the interim however, public transport still remains the primary mode of transport for most of the population, and India's public transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world. India's rail network is the 4th longest and the most heavily used system in the world, transporting over 6 billion passengers and over 350 million tons of freight annually. Despite ongoing improvements in the sector, several aspects of the transport sector are still riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure and lack of investment in less economically active parts of the country. The demand for transport infrastructure and services has been rising by around 10% a year. with the current infrastructure being unable to meet these growing demands. According to recent estimates by Goldman Sachs, India will need to spend US$1.7 trillion on infrastructure projects over the next decade to boost economic growth, of which US$500 billion is budgeted to be spent during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan intro to intermodal The 21st century have seen a renewed focus on intermodal freight transportation driven by the changing requirements of global supply chains. Each of the transportation modes (air, inland water, ocean, pipeline, rail, and road) has gone through technological evolution and has functioned separately under a modally based regulatory structure for

most of the 20th century. With the development of containerization in the mid-1900s, the reorientation toward deregulation near the end of the century, and a new focus on logistics and global supply chain requirements, the stage is set for continued intermodal transportation growth. . A more descriptive term for this process would be multimodal, because of a lack of effective and efficient connectivity for both freight and information among and between the various modes on shipments under a single freight bill. Container-based transportation services are an important part of intermodal transportation and the backbone of international trade. Container transportation is a major component of intermodal transportation and international commerce Almost all types of freight carriers and terminal operator may thus be involved in intermodal transportation, either by providing service for part of the transportation chain or by operating an intermodal transportation system (network). A well functioning transport system is essential to our national prosperity and defense. Advances in freight transport and logistics in recent decades have been a major source of productivity growth in the Indian economy. Many of the advances in freight transportation have been in intermodal transportation. However, the term intermodal is often used to identify the important overall advances in freight transportation and logistic of recent years. Intermodal is more than simply taking a container from a ship or factory, transferring it to railroad, and eventually transferring it to drayage contractor for delivery to consignee. It involves conducting business within existing governmental policies and regulations, managing the transfers between modes through the use of developing technologies, and the interactions between many intermediaries to enable the seamless and real time tracking, scheduling documentation and delivery of the intermodal shipment to the customer. Intermodal freight transport is also defined as the transport of goods in containers that can be

moved on land by rail or truck and on water by ship or barge during a single journey.

Literature review movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or vehicle, which uses successive, various modes of transportation (road, rail, water) without any handling of the goods themselves during transfers between modes. Intermodal transportation may be defined as the transportation of a person or a load from its origin to its destination by a sequence of at least two transportation modes, the transfer from one mode to the next being performed at an intermodal terminal. intermodal freight transport is defined as the use of two or more modes to move a shipment from origin to destination. of logisticallylinking a freight movement with two or more transport modes

intermodal freight transport is defined as the use of two or more modes to move a shipment from origin to destination. Intermodal transportation, with the options of integrating multiple modes, provides a flexible response to the changing supply chain management requirements in global markets and distribution systems. it can be defined as sequential use of two or more forms of transportation during a single journey

Intermodal Freight Transportation, broadly defined as the transportation of a load from its origin to its destination by a sequence of at least two transportation modes, the transfer from one mode to the next being performed at an intermodal terminal. intermodal freight transportations refers to a multi-modal chain of container -transportation services. it is a process of transporting freight and passengers by means of a system of interconnected networks, involving various combinations of modes of transportation, in which all of the components are seamlessly linked and efficiently combined The concept of transporting passengers and freight on two or more different modes during a single journey in such a way that all parts of the transportation process, including the exchange of information are efficiently connected and coordinated. The term intermodal transportation, or intermodalism, refers to the use of coordinated transportation of cargo on single trip. it is the shipment of the cargo and movement of the people involving more than one mode of transportation during a single, seamless journey. Transport or transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another

Background history

Objectives Scope

main part-transportation
History Humans' first means of transport were walking and swimming. The domestication of animals introduces a new way to lay the burden of transport on more powerful creatures, allowing heavier loads to be hauled, or humans to ride the animals for higher speed and duration. Inventions such as the wheel and sled helped make animal transport more efficient through the introduction of vehicles. Also water transport, including rowed and sailed vessels, dates back to time immemorial, and was the only efficient way to transport large quantities or over large distances prior to the Industrial Revolution. The first forms of road transport were horses, oxen or even humans carrying goods over dirt tracks that often followed game trails. Paved roads were built by many early civilizations, including Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization. The Persian and Roman empires built stone-paved roads to allow armies to travel quickly. Deep roadbeds of crushed stone underneath ensured that the roads kept dry. The medieval Caliphate later builttar-paved roads. The first watercraft were canoes cut out from tree trunks. Early water transport was accomplished with ships that were either rowed or used the wind for propulsion, or a combination of the two. The importance of water has led to most cities, that grew up as sites for trading, being located on rivers or at sea, ofter at the intersection of two bodies of water. Until the Industrial Revolution, transport remained slow and costly, and production and consumption were located as close to each other as feasible. The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw a number of inventions fundamentally change transport. With telegraphy, communication became instant and independent of transport. The invention of the steam engine, closely followed by its application in rail transport, made land transport independent of human or animal muscles. Both speed and capacity increased rapidly, allowing specialization through manufacturing being

located independent of natural resources. The 19th century also saw the development of the steam ship, that sped up global transport. With the development of the combustion engine and the automobile at the turn into the 20th century, road transport became more viable, allowing the introduction of mechanical private transport. The first highways were constructed during the 19th century with macadam. Later, tarmac and concrete became the dominant paving material. In 1903, the first controllable airplane was invented, and after World War I, it became a fast way to transport people and express goods over long distances. [23] After World War II, the automobile and airlines took higher shares of transport, reducing rail and water to freight and short-haul passenger.[24] Spaceflight was launched in the 1950s, with rapid growth until the 1970s, when interest dwindled. In the 1950s, the introduction of containerization gave massive efficiency gains in freight transport, permitting globalization.[21] International air travel became much more accessible in the 1960s, with the commercialization of the jet engine. Along with the growth in automobiles and motorways, this introduced a decline for rail and water transport. After the introduction of the Shinkansen in 1964, high-speed rail in Asia and Europe started taking passengers on long-haul routes from airlines.[24] introduction Transport or transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Transport is important since it enables trade between people, which in turn establishes civilizations. Transport infrastructure consists of the fixed installations necessary for transport, including roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals and pipelines and terminals such as airports, railway stations, bus stations, warehouses, trucking terminals, refueling depots including fueling docks and fuel stations, and seaports. Terminals may be used both for interchange of passengers and cargo and for maintenance.

Vehicles traveling on these networks may include automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains, trucks, people, helicopters, and aircraft. Operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the procedures set for this purpose including financing, legalities and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be either public or private, depending on the country and mode. Passenger transport may be public, where operators provide scheduled services, or private. Freight transport has become focused on containerization, although bulk transport is used for large volumes of durable items. Transport plays an important part in economic growth and globalization, but most types cause air pollution and use large amounts of land. While it is heavily subsidized by governments, good planning of transport is essential to make traffic flow, and restrain urban sprawl.

Mode A mode of transport is a solution that makes use of a particular type of vehicle, infrastructure and operation. The transport of a person or of cargo may involve one mode or several modes, with the latter case being called intermodal or multimodal transport. Each mode has its advantages and disadvantages, and will be chosen for a trip on the basis of cost, capability, route, and speed.

Traditional means Walking In ancient times, people often covered long distances on foot. Walking still constitutes an important mode of transport in urban areas. In the city of Mumbai, to further improve the transit conditions for pedestrians, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development

Authority, has commenced the construction of more than 50skywalks, as part of the Mumbai Skywalk project. Palanquin Palanquins, also known as palkis, were one of the luxurious methods used by the rich and noblemen for travelling. This was primarily used in the past to carry a deity or idol of a God, and many temples have sculptures of God being carried in a palki. Later on, it was primarily used by European noblemen and ladies from the upper classes of society prior to the advent of the railways in India.[12] Modern use of the palanquin is limited to Indian weddings and Pilgrimage. Bullock cart and horse carriage Bullock carts have been traditionally used for transport, especially in rural India. The arrival of the British saw drastic improvements in the horse carriages which were used for transport since early days. Today, they are used in smaller towns and are referred as Tanga or buggies. Victorias of Mumbai are still used for tourist purposes, but horse carriages are now rarely found in the metro cities of India. In recent years large cities have banned the movement of bullock carts and other slow moving vehicles on the main roads.

Bicycle Bicycles are a common mode of travel in much of India. More people can now afford to own a cycle than ever before. In 2005, more than 40% of Indian households owned a bicycle, with ownership rates ranging from around 30% to 70% at the state level.[2] Along with walking, cycling accounts for 50 to 75% of the commuter trips for those in the informal sector in urban areas. Even though India is the second largest producer of bicycles in the world, a significant prejudice against bicycle riding for transport exists in some segments of the population, generally stemming from the status symbol aspect of the motor vehicle. In India, the word "bike" generally refers to motorcycle, and "cycle" refers to bicycle.

Pune was the first city in India to have dedicated lanes for cycles. It was built for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. However, recent developments in Delhi suggest that bicycle riding is fast becoming popular in the metro cities of India. The Delhi government has decided to construct separate bicycle lanes on all major roads to combat pollution and ease traffic congestion. Hand-pulled rickshaw This type of transport are still available in Kolkata wherein a person pulls the rickshaw by hand. The Government of West Bengal proposed a ban on these rickshaws in 2005 describing them as "inhuman". Though a bill aiming to address this issue, termed as 'Calcutta Hackney Carriage Bill', was passed by the West Bengal Assembly in 2006, it has not been implemented yet. The Government of West Bengal is working on an amendment of this bill to avoid the loopholes that got exposed when the Hand-pulled Rickshaw Owner's Association filed a petition against the bill. Cycle rickshaw Cycle rickshaws were introduced in India in the 1940s. They are bigger than a tricycle where two people sit on an elevated seat at the back and a person pedals from the front. In the late 2000s, they were banned in several cities for causing traffic congestion. Cycle rickshaws have been a feature of Delhi streets since Indian independence in 1947, providing the cheapest way around the capital. The Delhi Police recently submitted an affidavit against plying of cycle rickshaws to ease traffic congestion in the city but it was dismissed by the Delhi High court. In addition, environmentalists have supported the retention of cycle rickshaws as a non-polluting and inexpensive mode of transport.

Urban public transport Public transport is the predominant mode of motorised local travel in cities. This is predominantly by road, since commuter rail services are available only in the seven metropolitan cities of

Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, while dedicated city bus services are known to operate in at least 25 cities with a population of over one million. Intermediate public transport modes like tempos and cycle rickshaws assume importance in medium size cities. However, the share of buses is negligible in most Indian cities as compared to personalized vehicles, and two-wheelers and cars account for more than 80 percent of the vehicle population in most large cities. Traffic in Indian cities generally moves slowly, where traffic jams and accidents are very common. India has very poor records on road safelyaround 90,000 people die from road accidents every year. At least 13 people die every hour in road accidents in the country,also in the year 2007 road accidents claimed more than 130,000 lives, overtaking China. A Reader's Digest study of traffic congestion in Asian cities ranked several Indian cities within the Top Ten for worst traffic. Tram The advent of the British saw trams being introduced in many cities including Mumbai and Kolkata. They are still in use in Kolkata and provide an emission-free means of transport. The nationalized Calcutta Tramways Company is in the process of upgrading the existing tramway network at a cost of 24 crore (US$4.37 million). Presently the limited tram system in India is extremely slow and technologically backward, new light rail projects are being proposed rather than tram projects which have one reason or another not been very successful in the country. Bus The oldest Indian state transport undertaking is North Bengal State Transport Corporation founded by the Raj Durbar of Koch Bihar Kingdom regime. on 1 April 1945 with three buses and three trucks. It is still vibrant and running, providing service to commuters of North Bengal region. Buses take up over 90% of public transport in Indian cities, and serve as a cheap and convenient mode of transport for all classes of society. Services are mostly run by state government owned transport corporations. However, after the economic liberalisation, many state transport corporations have introduced various facilities like low-floor buses for the disabled and air-conditioned buses to attract

private car owners to help decongest roads. Bengaluru was the first city in India to introduce Volvo B7RLE intra-city buses in India in January 2006. Bengaluru is the first Indian city to have an air-conditionedbus stop, located near Cubbon Park. It was built by Airtel. The APSRTC has introduced Buses with two coaches.These Buses are allowed to operate only in the Greater Hyderabad. It is acknowledged as the single corporation having the largest fleet in the world. This has been certified by the Guinness World Records for being the largest bus operator in the world. The city of Chennai houses Asia's largest bus terminus, the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus. In 2009, the Government of Karnataka and theBangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation flagged off a pro-poor bus service called the Atal Sarige. The service aims to provide low-cost connectivity to the economically backward sections of the society to the nearest major bus station. Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) New initiatives like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and air conditioned buses have been taken by the various state government to improve the bus public transport systems in cities. The idea of a BRT concept in India - based on the successful system in Curitiba, Brazil - was first introduced in the year 2000 in the form of a feasibility study for Bangalore carried out by Swedish consultants but was not implemented at the time. Today, however, the concept has caught on and Bus Rapid Transit systems already exist in Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Jaipur with new ones coming up inKolkata Hyderabad Lucknow and Bangalore. High Capacity buses can be found in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Chennai. Taxi Most of the traditional taxicabs in India are either Premier Padmini or Hindustan Ambassador cars. Depending on the city/state, taxis can either be hailed or hired from taxi-stands. In cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,taxis need to be hired over phone, whereas in cities like Kolkata and Mumbai, taxis can be hailed on the street. According to government of India regulations, all taxis are required to have a fare-meter installed. There are additional surcharges for luggage, late-night rides and toll taxes are

to be paid by the passenger. Since 2006, radio taxis have become increasingly popular with the public due to reasons of safety and convenience. In cities and localities where taxis are expensive or do not ply as per the government or municipal regulated fares, people use share taxis. These are normal taxis which carry one or more passengers travelling to destinations either en route to the final destination, or near the final destination. The passengers are charged according to the number of people with different destinations. A similar system exists for autorickshaws, known as share autos. Auto Rickshaw An auto rickshaw is a three-wheeler vehicle for hire that has no doors and is generally characterised by a small cabin for the driver in the front and a seat for passengers in the rear. Generally it is painted in yellow, green or black colour and has a black, yellow or green canopy on the top, but designs vary considerably from place to place. The color of the autorickshaw is also determined by the fuel that it is powered by, for example Ahmedabad andDelhi have green autos indicating the use of Compressed Natural Gas, whereas the autos of Mumbai, Bangalore have black autos indicating the use of diesel. In Mumbai and other metropolitan cities, 'autos' or 'ricks' as they are popularly known have regulated metered fares. A recent law prohibits auto rickshaw drivers from charging more than the specified fare, or charging night-fare before midnight, and also prohibits the driver from refusing to go to a particular location. Mumbai and Kolkata are also the only two cities which prohibit auto rickshaws from entering a certain part of the city, in these cases beingSouth Mumbai and certain parts of downtown Kolkata. However, in cities like Chennai, it is common to see autorickshaw drivers demand more than the specified fare and refuse to use fare meter. Airports and railway stations at many cities such as Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubballi-Dharwad provide a facility of prepaid auto booths, where the passenger pays a fixed fare as set by the authorities for various locations.

Suburban railway The railway transit systems in India include Suburban Railway, Rail Rapid Transit or Metro systems and Monorail. The present suburban railway services in India are limited and are operational only in Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad . TheMumbai Suburban Railway is the first rail system in India which began services in Mumbai in 1867, transports 6.3 million passengers daily and has the highest passenger density in the world. The first rapid transit system in India, the Kolkata Suburban Railway, was established in Kolkata in 1854. Its first service ran between Howrah and Hooghly covering a distance of 38.6 km (24 mi). Urban mass rapid transit The first modern rapid transit in India was the Kolkata Metro that started its operations in 1984. The Delhi Metro in New Delhi is second conventional metro and began operations in 2002. TheNamma Metro in Bengalore is India's third operational rapid transit and began operations in 2011. Currently, rapid transit systems have been deployed in these cities and more are under construction or in planning in several major cities of India. Monorail Monorail in India is generally considered as feeder system for the Metro train. The Mumbai Monorail will be the first monorail in India since thePatiala State Monorail Trainways closed in 1927. The first portion of the first line is scheduled to be operational by May 2012. The Thiruvananthapuram Monorail is under construction and will start operating in 2016. It will India's second largest monorail network. Many other Indian cities have Monorail projects, as a feeder system to the Metro, in different phases of planning. Green background for the systems that are currently under construction. Blue background for the systems that are currently in planning. System City Opening System No. No. of lines

Year

length (km)

of lines 2 2 3 3 6

under construction 1 1

Mumbai Monorail Thiruvananthapuram Monorail Chennai Monorail Bangalore Monorail Delhi Monorail Indore Monorail Kanpur Monorail Kolkata Monorail Kozhikode Monorail Navi Mumbai Monorail Patna Monorail Pune Monorail Aizawl Monorail

Mumbai

2012

20 22.50 57 60 90

Thiruvananthapuram 2016 Chennai Bangalore Delhi Indore Kanpur Kolkata Kozhikode Navi Mumbai Patna Pune Aizawl 2015 2015 2013 2014

63 72 35 38 32 52 5

6 2 1 2 4 2 1

Other local transport Motorcycle and scooter Motorised two-wheel vehicles like scooters, motorcycles and mopeds are very popular mode of transport due to their fuel efficiency and ease of use in congested roads or streets. The number of two-wheelers sold is several times that of cars. There were 47.5 million powered two-wheelers in India in 2003 compared with just 8.6 million cars. Motorcycles and scooters can be rented in many cities. Wearing protective headgear is mandatory for both the rider and the pillion-rider in most cities.

Automobile Private vehicles account for 30% of the total transport demand in urban areas of India. An average of 963 new private vehicles are registered every day in Delhi alone. The number of automobiles produced in India rose from 63 lakh (6.3 million) in 2002-03 to 1.1 crore (11.2 million) in 2008-09. However, India still has a very low rate of car ownership. When comparing car ownership between BRIC developing countries, it is on a par with China and exceeded by Brazil and Russia.[64]

Long distance transport Railway Rail services in India, first introduced in 1853, are provided by the state-run Indian Railways under the supervision of the Ministry of Railways. Indian Railways provides an important mode of transport in India, transporting over 18 million passengers and more than 2 million tonnes of freight daily across one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world. The proposal to construct to build the highest railway track in the world from Manali to Leh overtaking current record of Beijing-Lhasa Railway line has not been taken up for implementation. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways is divided into sixteen zones, which are further sub-divided into sixty seven divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. The rail network traverses through the length and breadth of the country, covering more than 7,000 stations over a total route length of more than 65,000 km (40,000 mi) and track length of about 115,000 km (71,000 mi). About 22,224 km (13,809 mi) or 34% of the route-kilometre was electrified as on 31 March 2012. Indian Railways is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.4 million employees. As to rolling stock, IR owns over 200,000 (freight) wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. It operates both

long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges, and is in the process of converting most of the metre gauge and narrow gauge tracks into broad gauge in a project called Project Unigauge. The Indian Railways runs a number of special types of services which are given higher priority. The Rajdhani trains introduced in 1969 provides connectivity between the national capital, Delhi and capitals of the states. On the other hand, Shatabdi Express provides connectivity between centres of tourism, pilgrimage or business. The Shatabdi Express trains run over short to medium distances and do not have sleepers while the Rajdhani Expresses run over longer distances and have only sleeping accommodation. Both series of trains have a regular speed of 110 to 140 km/h (81 to 87 mph) but average speed of less than 100 kmph. The 12001 Bhopal Shatabdi express, however, runs at a peak speed of 150 km/h on small stretches which makes it the fastest train in India. The other specialised services operated by the Railways are the Duronto Express and Garib Raths that provide cheap no-frill airconditioned rail travel. Besides, The Indian Railways also operates a number of luxury trains which cater to various tourist circuits. The Indian Railways has also initiated a number of highly ambitious projects to provide connectivity to the remote and inaccessible areas of the country. The 738 km long Konkan Railway with 2000 bridges and 91 tunnels is one such highly difficult project through fragile mountainous terrain of the Konkan region to connect two important port cities of Mangalore and Mumbai by a short route and was constructed in 1991-1998. Another such highly ambitious project is the Kashmir Railway, the Kashmir valley part of which was completed in 2009. Proposals have been made to construct high-speed railway lines in India but no concrete action has been taken. In 1999, the Konkan Railway Corporation introduced the Roll On Roll Off (RORO) service, a unique road-rail synergy system, on the section between Kolad in Maharashtra and Verna in Goa, which was extended up to Surathkal in Karnataka in 2004. The RORO service, the first of its kind in India, allowed trucks to be transported on flatbed trailers. It was highly popular, carrying about

1,10,000 trucks and bringing in about 74 crore worth of earnings to the corporation till 2007. As the railway tracks from Kandla, Pipavav, Mundra and other ports in Saurashtra to Ahmedabad and Palanpur and then to Rewari via Ringas are not electrified, freight trains (goods trains) with containers double-stacked ply on this route to Rewari junction and then take the containers further north from Rewari. Infringements like low road overbridges and foot overbridges that fouled with double-stacked containers were either dismantled or raised in years 2004-06 for running these freight trains. In India freight (goods) trains can carry standard containers double-stacked on flat-bed wagons with normal axle load of about 22 tonnes and do not require special low-bed wagons unlike in other countries that have (relatively narrow) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge. They carry almost 4000 tonnes per rake which is almost twice the load a normal goods train can haul. Some double-stacked container freight trains on this route through Rewari station also carry "high cube" containers that are 2896 mm (9 ft 6 inch) high (higher than standard containers that are generally 8 ft or 2.438 mm high) on special low-well wagons owned by private clients. Some private logistics operators have built container storage yards north of Rewari near Garhi Harsaru for this purpose. International Rail links between India and neighbouring countries are not well-developed. Two trains operate to Pakistan - the Samjhauta Express between Delhi and Lahore, and the Thar Express between Jodhpur and Karachi. Bangladesh is connected by a bi-weekly train, the Maitree Express that runs from Calcutta to Dhaka. Nominal rail links to Nepal exist passenger services betweenJaynagar and Bijalpura, and freight services between Raxaul and Birganj. No rail link exists with Myanmar but a railway line is to be built through from Jiribam (in Manipur) to Tamu through Imphal and Moreh. The construction of this missing link, as per the feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs through RITES Ltd, is estimated to cost 2,941 crore (US$535.26 million). An 18 km railway link with Bhutan is being constructed fromHashimara in West Bengal to Toribari in Bhutan. No rail link exists with either Tibet, China or Sri Lanka, A railway line is being built

from Siliguri to Rangpo in Sikkim but there are no plans to extend it further north towards Tibet.

Road India has a network of National Highways connecting all the major cities and state capitals, forming the economic backbone of the country. As of 2010, India has a total of 70,934 km (44,076 mi) of National Highways, of which 200 km (124 mi) are classified as expressways. Under National Highways Development Project (NHDP), work is under progress to equip some of the important national highways with four lanes; also there is a plan to convert some stretches of these roads to six lanes. However congestion and bureaucratic delays en route ensure that trucking goods from Gurgaon to the port in Mumbai can take up to 10 days As per the National Highways Authority of India, about 65% of freight and 80% passenger traffic is carried by the roads. The National Highways carry about 40% of total road traffic, though only about 2% of the road network is covered by these roads. Average growth of the number of vehicles has been around 10.16% per annum over recent years. Highways have facilitated development along the route and many towns have sprung up along major highways. Road transport Benchmark Freight Index (BFI) initiative taken in India in recently by transit. All national highways are metalled, but very few are constructed of concrete, the most notable being the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. In recent years construction has commenced on a nationwide system of multi-lane highways, including the Golden Quadrilateral and North-South and East-West Corridors which link the largest cities in India. In 2000, around 40% of villages in India lacked access to all-weather roads and remained isolated during the monsoon season. To improve rural connectivity, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister's Rural Road Program), a project funded by the Central Governmentwith the help

of World Bank, was launched in 2000 to build all-weather roads to connect all habitations with a population of 500 or above (250 or above for hilly areas). As per 2009 estimates, the total road length in India is 3,320,410 km (2,063,210 mi); making the Indian road network the third largest road networkin the world. At 0.66 km of highway per square kilometre of land the density of Indias highway network is higher than that of the United States (0.65) and far higher than that of China's (0.16) or Brazil's (0.20).

Type of Road

Length

Expressways

950 km (590 mi) as of 2011

National Highways

66,590 km (41,380 mi)

State Highways

131,899 km (81,958 mi)

Major District Roads

467,763 km (290,654 mi)

Rural and Other Roads

2,650,000 km (1,650,000 mi)

Total Length

3,300,350 km (2,050,740 mi) (Approx)

Buses are an important means of public transport in India, particularly in the countryside and remote areas where the rail network cannot be accessed and airline operations are

few or non-existent. Due to this social significance, public bus transport is predominantly owned and operated by public agencies, and most state governments operate bus services through a State Road Transport Corporation. These corporations, introduced in the 1960s and 1970s, have proven extremely useful in connecting villages and towns across the country.

Aviation Rapid economic growth in India has made air travel more affordable. Air India, India's flag carrier, presently operates a fleet of 95 aircraft and plays a major role in connecting India with the rest of the world. Several other foreign airlines connect Indian cities with other major cities across the globe. A large section of country's air transport system remains untapped, even though the Mumbai-Delhi air corridor was ranked 10th by Amadeus in 2012 among the world's busiest routes. India's vast unutilised air transport network has attracted several investments in the Indian air industry in the past few years. More than half a dozenlowcost carriers entered the Indian market in 2004-05.

Airports Length of runways

Airports

with paved with unpaved runways[116] runways[116]

3,047 m (10,000 ft) or more

21

2,438 to 3,047 m (8,000 to 10,000 ft)

59

1,524 to 2,438 m (5,000 to 8,000 ft)

74

914 to 1,524 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft)

83

42

Under 914 m (3,000 ft)

14

48

Total

251

101

Waterways India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi), out of which about 5,200 km (3,231 mi) of river and 485 km (301 mi) of canals can be used by mechanised crafts. Freight transport by waterways is highly underutilised in India compared to other large countries. The total cargo moved by inland waterways is just 0.15% of the total inland traffic in India, compared to the corresponding figures of 20% for Germany and 32% for Bangladesh. Cargo that is transported in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in India. It does the function of building the necessary infrastructure in these waterways, surveying the economic feasibility of new projects and also administration and regulation. Other modes Pipelines

Length of pipelines for crude oil is 20,000 km (12,427 mi). Length of Petroleum products pipeline is 15,000 km (9,321 mi). Length of Natural gas pipelines is 1,700 km (1,056 mi).

Pipeline transport sends goods through a pipe, most commonly liquid and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes can also send solid capsules using compressed air. For liquids/gases, any chemically stable liquid or gas can be sent through a pipeline. Shortdistance systems exist for sewage, slurry, water and beer, while long-distance networks are used for petroleum and natural gas. Cable transport is a broad mode where vehicles are pulled by cables instead of an internal power source. It is most commonly used at steep gradient. Typical solutions include aerial tramway, elevators, escalator and ski lifts; some of these are also categorized as conveyor transport. Spaceflight is transport out of Earth's atmosphere into outer space by means of a spacecraft. While large amounts of research have gone into technology, it is rarely used except to put satellites into orbit, and conduct scientific experiments. However, man has landed on the moon, and probes have been sent to all the planets of the Solar System. Suborbital spaceflight is the fastest of the existing and planned transport systems from a place on Earth to a distant other place on Earth. Faster transport could be achieved through part of a Low Earth orbit, or following that trajectory even faster using the propulsion of the rocket to steer it.

Elements Infrastructure Infrastructure is the fixed installations that allow a vehicle to operate. It consists of a way, a terminal and facilities for parking and maintenance. For rail, pipeline, road and cable transport, the entire way the vehicle travels must be built up. Air and water craft

are able to avoid this, since the airway and seaway do not need to be built up. However, they require fixed infrastructure at terminals. Terminals such as airports, ports and stations, are locations where passengers and freight can be transferred from one vehicle or mode to another. For passenger transport, terminals are integrating different modes to allow riders to interchange to take advantage of each mode's advantages The financing of infrastructure can either be public or private. Transport is often a natural monopoly and a necessity for the public; roads, and in some countries railways and airports are funded through taxation. New infrastructure projects can involve large spendings, and are often financed through debt. Many infrastructure owners therefore impose usage fees, such as landing fees at airports, or toll plazas on roads. Independent of this, authorities may impose taxes on the purchase or use of vehicles. Vehicles A vehicle is any non-living device that is used to move people and goods. Unlike the infrastructure, the vehicle moves along with the cargo and riders. Unless being pulled by a cable or muscle-power, the vehicle must provide its own propulsion; this is most commonly done through a steam engine, combustion engine, electric motor, a jet engine or a rocket, though other means of propulsion also exist. Vehicles also need a system of converting the energy into movement; this is most commonly done through wheels, propellers and pressure. Vehicles are most commonly staffed by a driver. However, some systems, such as people movers and some rapid transits, are fully automated. For passenger transport, the vehicle must have a compartment for the passengers. Simple vehicles, such as automobiles, bicycles or simple aircraft, may have one of the passengers as a driver. Operation

Private transport is only subject to the owner of the vehicle, who operates the vehicle themselves. For public transport and freight transport, operations are done through private enterprise or by governments. The infrastructure and vehicles may be owned and operated by the same company, or they may be operated by different entities. Traditionally, many countries have had a national airline and national railway. Since the 1980s, many of these have been privatized. International shipping remains a highly competitive industry with little regulation, but ports can be public owned. Function Relocation of travelers and cargo are the most common uses of transport. However, other uses exist, such as the strategic and tactical relocation of armed forces during warfare, or the civilian mobility construction or emergency equipment. Passenger Passenger transport, or travel, is divided into public and private transport. Public transport is scheduled services on fixed routes, while private is vehicles that provide ad hoc services at the riders desire. The latter offers better flexibility, but has lower capacity, and a higher environmental impact. Travel may be as part of daily commuting, for business, leisure or migration. Short-haul transport is dominated by the automobile and mass transit. The latter consists of buses in rural and small cities, supplemented with commuter rail, trams and rapid transit in larger cities. Long-haul transport involves the use of the automobile, trains, coaches and aircraft, the last of which have become predominantly used for the longest, including intercontinental, travel. Intermodal passenger transport is where a journey is performed through the use of several modes of transport; since all human transport normally starts and ends with walking, all passenger transport can be considered intermodal. Public transport may also involve the intermediate change of vehicle, within or across modes, at a transport hub, such as a bus or railway station.

Taxis and Buses can be found on both ends of Public Transport spectrum, whereas Buses remain the cheaper mode of transport but are not necessarily flexible, and Taxis being very flexible but more expensive. In the middle is Demand responsive transport offering flexibility whilst remaining affordable. International travel may be restricted for some individuals due to legislation and visa requirements. Freight Freight transport, or shipping, is a key in the value chain in manufacturing. With increased specialization and globalization, production is being located further away from consumption, rapidly increasing the demand for transport. While all modes of transport are used for cargo transport, there is high differentiation between the nature of the cargo transport, in which mode is chosen. Logistics refers to the entire process of transferring products from producer to consumer, including storage, transport, transshipment, warehousing, material-handling and packaging, with associated exchange of information. Incoterm deals with the handling of payment and responsibility of risk during transport. Containerization, with the standardization of ISO containers on all vehicles and at all ports, has revolutionized international and domestic trade, offering huge reduction in transshipment costs. Traditionally, all cargo had to be manually loaded and unloaded into the haul of any ship or car; containerization allows for automated handling and transfer between modes, and the standardized sizes allow for gains in economy of scale in vehicle operation. This has been one of the key driving factors in international trade and globalization since the 1950s. Bulk transport is common with cargo that can be handled roughly without deterioration; typical examples are ore, coal, cereals and petroleum. Because of the uniformity of the product, mechanical handling can allow enormous quantities to be handled quickly and efficiently. The low value of the cargo combined with high volume also means that economies of scale become essential in transport, and gigantic ships and whole trains

are commonly used to transport bulk. Liquid products with sufficient volume may also be transported by pipeline. Air freight has become more common for products of high value; while less than one percent of world transport by volume is by airline, it amounts to forty percent of the value. Time has become especially important in regards to principles such as postponement and just-in-time within the value chain, resulting in a high willingness to pay for quick delivery of key components or items of high value-to-weight ratio. In addition to mail, common items sent by air include electronics and fashion clothing. Impact Economic Transport is a key necessity for specializationallowing production and consumption of products to occur at different locations. Transport has throughout history been a spur to expansion; better transport allows more tradeand a greater spread of people. Economic growth has always been dependent on increasing the capacity and rationality of transport. But the infrastructure and operation of transport has a great impact on the land and is the largest drainer of energy, making transport sustainability a major issue. Modern society dictates a physical distinction between home and work, forcing people to transport themselves to places of work or study, as well as to temporarily relocate for other daily activities. Passenger transport is also the essence of tourism, a major part of recreational transport. Commerce requires the transport of people to conduct business, either to allow face-to-face communication for important decisions or to move specialists from their regular place of work to sites where they are needed. Environment Transport is a major use of energy and burns most of the world's petroleum. This creates air pollution, including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a significant contributor to global warming through emission of carbon dioxide, for which transport is

the fastest-growing emission sector. By subsector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming. Environmental regulations in developed countries have reduced individual vehicles' emissions; however, this has been offset by increases in the numbers of vehicles and in the use of each vehicle. Some pathways to reduce the carbon emissions of road vehicles considerably have been studied. Energy use and emissions vary largely between modes, causing environmentalists to call for a transition from air and road to rail and human-powered transport, as well as increased transport electrification andenergy efficiency. Other environmental impacts of transport systems include traffic congestion and automobile-oriented urban sprawl, which can consume natural habitat and agricultural lands. By reducing transportation emissions globally, it is predicted that there will be significant positive effects on Earth's air quality, acid rain, smog and climate change.
measures

Buses on the Delhi BRTS. Delhi was one of the first cities in the World to introduce CNG powered buses The National capital New Delhi has one of the largest CNG based transport systems as a part of the drive to bring down pollution. In spite of these efforts it remains the largest contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions in the city. In 1998, the Supreme Court of India published a Directive that specified the date of April 2001 as deadline to replace or convert all buses, three-wheelers and taxis in Delhi to Compressed Natural Gas. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation was the first State Transport Undertaking in India to utilise bio-fuels and ethanol-blended fuels. KSRTC took an initiative to do research in alternative fuel forms by experimenting with various alternatives blending diesel with biofuels such as honge, palm, sunflower, groundnut, coconut and sesame.

main part intermodal

Introduction Intermodal Freight Transportation, broadly defined as the transportation of a load from its origin to its destination by a sequence of at least two transportation modes, the transfer from one mode to the next being performed at an intermodal terminal. Container-based transportation services are an important part of intermodal transportation and the backbone of international trade. Intermodal transportation may be defined as the transportation of a person or a load from its origin to its destination by a sequence of at least two transportation modes, the transfer from one mode to the next being performed at an intermodal terminal. intermodal freight transportations refers to a multi-modal chain of container transportation services. This chain usually links the initial shipper to the final consignee of the container (so-called door-to-door service) and takes place over long distances. Transportation is often provided by several carriers. Container transportation is a major component of intermodal transportation and international commerce. Intermodal transportation is not only about containers and inter-continental exchanges, however. On the one hand, a significant part of international trade that is moved in containers does not involve ocean navigation, land transportation means providing the intermodal chain. On the other hand, other types of cargo may be moved by a chain of transportation means and require intermodal transfer facilities, as illustrated by the definition the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (1993) gives for intermodal transportation: movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or vehicle, which uses successive, various modes of transportation (road, rail, water) without any handling of the goods themselves during transfers between modes. The term intermodal has been used in many applications that include passenger transportation and the containerization of freight. A more descriptive term for this process would be multimodal, because of a lack of effective and efficient connectivity for both freight and information among and between the various modes on shipments

under a single freight bill. intermodal freight transport is defined as the use of two or more modes to move a shipment from origin to destination. An intermodal movement involves the physical infrastructure, goods movement and transfer, and information drivers and capabilities under a single freight bill. The concept of logistically linking a freight movement with two or more transport modes is centuries-old. The recent focus has been on containerization; however, intermodal transportation encompasses all single-bill shipments using multiple modes. The term intermodal transportation, or intermodalism, refers to the use of coordinated transportation of cargo on single trip. Ocean carriers, railroads, and trucking companies cooperate and interact in the movement of standardized units (containers and trailers) for increased efficiency of their operations, increased use of infrastructure, and to provide better service and more choices for their customers. Intermodal transportation lowers transportation costs by using each mode on the portion of the trip to which it is best suited. It reduces congestion on overstressed infrastructure components and brings higher returns from costly infrastructure investments. Other benefits of intermodal transportation are beyond the commercial interests of the involved companies. The use of rail transportation rather than trucking decreases the amount of accidents, reduces highway deterioration, and brings higher fuel efficiency (1.4- to 3.4-times more efficient than trucking). A properly organized system of intermodal transportation is environment friendly, conserves natural resources, reduces the social problems of trucking industry employees, and provides economy with services that allow its growth. There are two overlying intermodal systems that interact, supplement each other, and utilize common infrastructure. International intermodal shipping is based on the cooperation between ocean carriers and railroads. Railroads allow steamship companies to extend their sphere of influence beyond the gates of ports and help ocean carriers to attain higher productivity of operations by transferring containers between ports. Domestic intermodal industry involves trucking companies and railroads and is based on the intermodal movement of trailers,

domestic containers, and rail-highway vehicles (RoadRailers). Trucking companies enroll into arrangements with railroads to decrease their costs and improve overall efficiency of their service. Intermodalism experienced fast growth in the 1980s, after a series of railroad, trucking and ocean shipping deregulations and after the invention of doublestack railcars and RoadRailers. The 1980s are also called as the era of intermodal revolution. In the 1990s, after the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991, governmental institutions recognized the benefits that the whole society gains from intermodal transportation in the form of reduced highway congestion and pollution. Intermodal projects in both freight and passenger intermodal transportation are often sponsored or co-financed by governmental funds. An example of such project is the current intention of the government to fund construction of an intermodal yard on Long Island. History of Intermodal Transportation The idea of using different modes of transportation for one unit of freight has been around for hundreds of years. There are several factors that influenced the development of intermodal transportation, slowing it down in some periods and advancing it in others. Generally, the best conditions ever for the use of intermodal transportation are experienced today, thanks to the existence of information technologies, specialized technical devices, good level of demand, and legal support. Ones of the major factors that influence development of intermodal transportation are also governmental regulations. Changes in these conditions have been accompanying intermodal transportation and influencing its development so that it could evolve to a service that is helping to support the growth of global and US economy. Although it does not comply with todays sense of the term intermodal container, the first known commonly used container is the barrel. It was independently developed by cultures across the world and has been used for thousands of years as a storage and transportation unit. The practical properties

of the barrel, its cooperativeness and handiness allowed it to survive until today. The first use of box-shaped containers to carry freight intermodally most likely occurred in England in 1792 when a horse-powered tramway hauled coal on iron crates to a canal where the crates were transferred to boats. Even though this service was introduced more than 200 years ago, it involved the use of a crane and the containers were used to carry up to two tons of freight. American railroads were experimenting with wooden baggage crates on flatcars form the 1830s to the 1940s. These forerunners of modern container-on-flatcar (COFC) service had wheels for moving them on and off the cars without any special equipment and were intended to shorten the layover of passenger trains in stations. Intermodal is more than simply taking a container from a ship or factory, transferring it to railroad, and eventually transferring it to drayage contractor for delivery to consignee. It involves conducting business within existing governmental policies and regulations, managing the transfers between modes through the use of developing technologies, and the interactions between many intermediaries to enable the seamless and real time tracking, scheduling documentation and delivery of the intermodal shipment to the customer. Intermodal freight transport is also defined as the transport of goods in containers that can be moved on land by rail or truck and on water by ship or barge during a single journey. Many changes have occurred in intermodal transportation over the past century and some of the key historical developments in India have been: Transportation using canals Sea-train Intermodal service Truck-Rail Intermodality Land Bridges Pipelines Cargo Containers Air-Surface Intermodality

Today intermodal is often associated with a variety of transportation activities and is often used to refer many of the important overall advances in freight transportation and logistics of recent years. Freight transportation is a joint enterprise of the private sector and government. Private firms provide nearly all the direct service to shippers and own transportation equipments and some portions of the infrastructure. The government provides major infrastructure components like ports and harbors, airports and airways, and inland waterways. The transportation industry is rapidly changing due to technological advances and search for faster and cheaper ways to transport freight across the globe. Intermodal freight transport is a system for transporting goods, particularly over longer distances and across international borders, which uses a combination of two or more individual modes, such as road haulage and rail freight, or road haulage and inland waterway barge, to achieve the most economic, efficient and environmentally-friendly delivery of loads to their destination. Typically, such operations involve the movement of either: complete, driver-accompanied, road vehicles which travel on the road and then transfer on to a rail wagon for the long haul leg of the journey. unaccompanied articulated semi-trailers carried piggyback-style on rail wagons, or ISO-type shipping containers or intermodal swap bodies which are transferred from road to rail and vice versa; road vehicles carrying ISO containers direct to a port or to a rail terminal for rail haul to a port for short-sea or deep-sea shipping, or to an inland waterway terminal for transport via canal barge; Freight (invariably in bulk loads) deep-sea shipped from the point of origin then transferred on to a barge or lighter for onward shipment to an inland port.

The 21st century have seen a renewed focus on intermodal freight transportation driven by the changing requirements of global supply chains. Each of the transportation modes (air, inland water, ocean, pipeline, rail, and road) has gone through technological evolution and has functioned separately under a modally based regulatory structure for most of the 20th century. With the development of containerization in the mid-1900s, the

reorientation toward deregulation near the end of the century, and a new focus on logistics and global supply chain requirements, the stage is set for continued intermodal transportation growth. The growth of intermodal freight transportation will be driven and challenged by four factors: Intermodal transport continues to be significant in the movement of freight. The railroad industry reports an approximately fivefold growth in trailer and container traffic on the railroads from 1965 to 1995. Although trailer and container traffic is frequently foremost in mind when intermodal transport is discussed, it is important to note that many other commodities can in fact be intermodal shipments. For example, all grain moves off the farm by truck before being connected to those movements that will continue by water or rail, and a significant portion of grain transported by rail goes to water transportation. Many other bulk or semibulk commodities such as fertilizers and building products move intermodally. Another intermodal bulk commodity is coal, which goes by road, rail, or river before transfer to rail and river for domestic delivery or to ocean for export. Increasingly, traditional trucking movements from small packages to less than truckload (LTL) and truckload (TL) shipments are spending part of their time on rail. Infact, all air express shipments are inherently intermodal, with truck links connecting with air linehaul at origin and destination. If intermodal transport were measured as all multiple-mode single-bill shipments rather than the historical narrow measure of containerized freight, the tremendous significance of intermodal movements in the logistics and supply chain structure would be more apparent. True broad measurement of intermodal movements would also affect the perspectives of private and public organizations toward the importance of developing intermodal infrastructure and information and communications capabilities. Overall, intermodal transport, both containerized and multiple-mode noncontainerized, has performed satisfactorily in the last half of the 20th century as logistics has grown as a profession and responded to deregulation. However, to encourage and allow broadly defined intermodal transport to become as effective and efficient as it needs to be for future global market and supply chains, four issues need to be addressed. (a) measuring, understanding, and responding to the role of intermodalism in the

changing customer requirements and hypercompetition of supply chains in a global marketplace;

The internationalization and globalization of resources and markets will place demands on intermodal transport in ways never witnessed before. Two- and three-party partnerships will give way to fully integrated supply chains. The competitive world of the future may well be centered between global supply chains and their supporting modal and intermodal capabilities. Linehaul movement and local delivery require intermodal transport as a critical element of supply chain physical execution. This potential for worldwide competition between global supply chains has sometimes been labeled hypercompetition and places new requirements on execution and implementation, including the coordination and integration of intermodal movements. Customers in the future will be indifferent to global sourcing issues and will expect their order to be delivered at the right place, at the right time, in the right condition, and for the right profit. In order to fully understand this global role and permit effective and efficient planning, response, and resource investment for intermodal transport, accurate and appropriate measurements must exist. Most measurements have focused on containerized intermodal transport. The 21st century needs to have a set of measures for the broader definition of intermodalism, all single-bill multiple-mode shipments. This new intermodal measurement would supplement the historical modal measurements that are a residual of regulation and the needed focus during modal development in the 20th century. Future resource investments, education, and training will require full understanding of the actual and potential interaction between modes that affects the entire transport industry and the infrastructure and information technology that supports and enables effective and efficient execution of intermodalism in global supply chains. For the understanding of and response to intermodal needs, transportation and intermodal measurements need to be recast for the broader definition of all multiplemode single-bill shipments.

(b) the need to reliably and flexibly respond to changing customer requirements with seamless and integrated coordination of freight and equipment flows through various modes; The marketplace of the future will have a diversity of demand worldwide and a multiplicity of sourcing and trading patterns. All of this diversity will be in response to customers expectations and requirements for small and quickly delivered lot sizes or shipments. Inventory will be held only briefly for staging, such as cross-docking, and the future focus will be primarily on inventory in transit and not inventory in storage, distribution centers, or warehouses. E-commerce will have a substantial future role in the supply chain process and will reinforce information and communications as key factors in supply chains and their intermodal components. The customer will expect highly coordinated and customized delivery by the supply chain with great flexibility as the marketplaces shift and change, driven by increased information flows to the final consumer or producer. In addition, the almost unlimited range of sourcing options and market opportunities will drive rapid and constant change, requiring continued commitment to innovation in intermodal operational and information and communications technology. Reliability levels (i.e., the removal of variance) will be a higher requirement to permit satisfaction of customer demand while minimizing the costs of the supply chain. A single freight bill, possibly a single supply chain bill, will be tendered through electronic means. Customers will expect the intermodal and transportation systems supporting supply chains to be focused on speed, flexibility, variance elimination, and relationships with other members of the supply chains that permit profit potential for all. The intermodal capability will have to be integrated and seamless, with better connections between the modes at all points. (c) knowledge of current and future intermodal operational options

and alternatives, as well as the potential for improved information and communications technology and the challenges associated with their application; and

To be able to optimize transport options, managers will have to be highly knowledgeable in all of current and future intermodal options and alternatives. This need may well drive heightened transportation education at all levels, from elementary and secondary education to fundamentals at the undergraduate level, managerial issues at the masters degree level, and conceptual or strategic issues at the doctoral level. Much of this education will be focused toward the operational, marketing, financial, economic, and competitive factors of modes and intermodal execution. This focus must also include the development of innovations such as equipment technology evolution through concepts such as FastShip, which proposes to reduce ocean shipping time by half, and RoadRailer, the blended railtruck technology that permits substantially lower-cost transfer between the modes without lift devices and therefore uses smallerscale facilities. It will also require an understanding of the fundamentals of linehaul and terminal structure, capacity, and execution so as to understand the options and alternatives in dealing with growing constraints on the operational side. All of this knowledge and the resulting management are driven by current and future technology and information capabilities and advances. As shippers and users of supply chain structure continue to implement enterprise-wide relational software and databases, transport and intermodal companies in supply chains will be challenged as well as empowered by information technology and communications capability. As increasingly more pieces of freight equipment, and possibly the freight itself, become electronically tagged for tracking and operational execution, the data available to manage linehaul and terminal operations will increase dramatically. This increased information-communications technology will give the supply chain managers, and those who contract with supply chain companies, information to make management decisions regarding intermodal trade-offs, alternatives, and options that are just beginning to be fully evaluated and operationalized today. This level of informationcommunications

capability will provide significant challenges to enable information flows in both directions between the marketplace and the sourcing of materials. This capability will also apply to both private- and public-sector applications and management of infrastructure.

(d) constraints on and coordination of infrastructure capacity, including policy and regulatory issues, as well as better management of existing infrastructure and broader considerations on future investment in new infrastructure. All the supply chain capability and the related information-communications options are of little value if the infrastructure is constrained and the equipment carrying the freight cannot efficiently and effectively execute the requirements of the customer. Infrastructure and equipment capacity can be evaluated in two contexts, static and dynamic, and it is the dynamic capacity that is the concern for the future. Static infrastructure and equipment capacity is purely the physical space available for linehaul or terminal operations and the nonmoving carrying capacity of the equipment. It is a physical measure of infrastructure and equipment but is not a reliable capacity measure of either. Dynamic capacity, on the other hand, deals with the throughput that is derived from operating static infrastructure and equipment capacity. Dynamic capacity is a factor of speed and the lack of variability, which causes slowdowns or reworking of the process. Concerns are beginning to grow regarding constraints on the dynamic capacity of intermodal linehaul connectors and terminals that are becoming the mainstay of supply chains. In addition, impediments are growing on the ability, particularly in densely populated areas, to expand the static capacity of the infrastructure. Limitations on financial and physical resources constrain the ability to add new static capacity. These constraints call for intermodal transport to develop information-communications and management capability for efficient and effective linehaul transit as well as coordinated and integrated connections through terminals to other modes. Once again, information systems are becoming significant and critical to this effective coordination and integration. There is additional concern with the static capacity of terminals generally located in or

near large population centers, whose populations in part drive supply chain demand. However, the physical transport of goods creates environmental externalities such as congestion, air and water quality impacts, and noise and light complications for society, particularly in metropolitan regions. The physical aspects of terminals in urban areas are complicated further by the desire of local municipalities and regions to maximize the tax base, frequently through commercial alternatives, such as retail operations and tourism, rather than transportation, intermodal, and supply chain facilities. The growth of world populations is heightening global demand for products. The absolute volume of shipments is increasing and will continue to increase. Linehaul or terminal infrastructure built decades ago is being stretched to accommodate the volumes moving intermodally in conjunction with supply chains. A focus of concern for intermodalism continues to be the connectors between the transport linehaul and the terminals, as seen in specific provisions in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Transport managers, policy makers, planners, and taxpayers will have to continually address these inherent difficulties through innovative technology, both physical and electronic; land use and transportation planning; and management of existing infrastructure.

INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION AND SUPPLY CHAINS Intermodal transportation, with the options of integrating multiple modes, provides a flexible response to the changing supply chain management requirements in global markets and distribution systems. The integrating of modes requires a process or systems approach for execution and "a higher degree of skill and broader knowledge of the transportation/supply chain processes, information, equipment, and infrastructure. Intermodal transport, as it moves from a focus on infrastructure components to a holistic focus on process or systems, will have more viability and applicability in the world of global supply chain management. A supply chain is defined as a set of three or more organizations directly linked by one or more of the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and

information from a source to a customer, and supply chain management is defined as the systemic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole. The components of supply chains, much like the modes of transportation, have existed for many years. It is in this time of information and communications technology and capability that the supply chain processes, and the modes supporting those processes, are gaining the capability of being integrated. This integration can permit the optimization of trade-offs between the components of supply chains as well as between the service and cost aspects of the modes within supply chains. Information capability and supply chain relationships will require careful balancing of all the business objectives of both the customers and the providers. Supply chain participants must respond and compete in the global marketplace, which is evolving rapidly. INTEGRATED INTER MODAL TRANSPORTATION An integrated intermodal transport system is a significant and critical factor in the successful execution of supply chains, both domestically and internationally. The awareness of and requirements for options in the intermodal execution of supply chains are being driven heavily by information and communications systems. One example that is gaining global implementation and effectiveness is the use of relational databases the electronic ability to integrate and operationalize related but different data sets. This comprehensive ability to understand and assess the total supply chain capability and performance will place new demands on supply chain participants, including the transport system. New demands on the transport system will require a rethinking of transportation policy and investment.

Perspectives
Intermodal transportation, particularly container-based, is steadily growing and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. This is accompanied by the evolution of the regulatory, economic, and technological environment of the industry. Enhanced

planning and management procedures and decision technologies are thus required, offering both great opportunities and significant challenges for the Operations Research community. On a general note, while many significant methodological advances have been achieved and several have been successfully transferred to actual practice, many problems have received scant attention. Moreover, advances in vehicle, infrastructure, and communication technologies yield new problems and require that problems already studied be revisited. In this section, we identify some of these trends, opportunities, and challenges. Container terminals, mainly located in ports, are a case in point. Most research dedicated to this area is very recent and aimed at operational issues. This may be explained by the fact that terminals are often seen as bottlenecks in freight transportation and efforts are therefore dedicated to improving their efficiency and productivity. The development of comprehensive models for strategic and tactical planning of container terminals offers significant research opportunities. Moreover, the trend one observes in container terminal automation makes this research direction extremely timely. How to represent automatic operations in planning models raises interesting questions, however. The automation of container terminals also opens up research opportunities in real-time decision and control of operations. Automated equipment collects and transmits data in real-time. This data, together with historical information and the plan of operations, could be used to automate and, in some case nearly optimize, real-time decisions. New models are required, as well as appropriate solution methods. Automation of terminals also requires revisiting operational planning models. Compared to terminals, more work has been dedicated to carrier strategic and tactical planning issues. Yet, new problems emerge and many challenging research opportunities exist. Enhancing the models to better represent operation characteristics and to better integrate line and terminal activities is such an opportunity; integrating a representation of resource (vehicles, power, manpower) circulation and scheduling is another. The planning and operations of the new rail intermodal-service networks, operating regular and fixed services on a full-asset-utilization basis and enforcing

advance bookings, define new challenging problems for Operations Research and Transportation Science. The more comprehensive integration of the time-dependency of decisions and of the stochasticity of data and operations into strategic/tactic models is a major research challenge and opportunity. Indeed, many models aimed at strategic and tactical planning issues are static and almost all are deterministic. The conventional wisdom seems to be that such models plan based on average forecast data, while actual operations provide the recourse to adjust the plan to the day-to-day reality.. The growth in the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and the electronic society will continue to impact the planning and operations of freight transportation. ITS and e-business technologies and procedures increase the flow of data, improve the timeliness and quality of information, and offer the possibility to control and coordinate operations in real-time. Research is required to adequately model the various planning and management problems under ITS and real-time information and to develop efficient solution methods. These efforts must target carriers, terminals, as well as the entire intermodal chain. The scheduling, assignment, dispatching, routing, and re-routing of equipment are obvious and challenging subjects. As important is the impact on planning The uncertainties related to the operation of each element of the chain, the relations among these uncertainties, as well as their propagation within the intermodal chain are of prime importance in this context and pose considerable modeling and algorithmic challenges. Recent years have brought to the forefront security issues related to transportation, ports, and border crossing. Planning and operations models and methods must be revisited and new ones must be proposed to address these issues, for each participant in the intermodal chain, as well as for the entire chain. Most problems mentioned in this Chapter are NP-Hard and the formulations proposed are large-scale, mixed-integer combinatorial models. Stochastic, time-dependent formulations make resolution efforts even more difficult. And the need to build more comprehensive models is not making them any easier to solve. Significant research

must thus be dedicated to the methodological aspects, including the study of models to develop stronger formulations and bounds

Technical Devices in Freight Intermodal Transportation The complexity of intermodal transportation, which requires different types of modes to cooperate, requires a large variety of equipment that is often very specialized. Moreover, the technology needs often vary for international and domestic market. The equipment for intermodal operations must be well managed so that it is suitable and available in the right time at the right place. The equipment is owned by leasing companies or by the steamship, railroad or trucking operators. In some cases, independent parties acquire and maintain equipment that is interchanged between more users. Piggybacks Piggybacks are highway trailers used for intermodal transportation. They can be carried on flatcars equipped with hitches or on special lightweight spine or skeleton cars. On some routes piggybacks must be carried on suspended railcars due to low clearances. The history of highway trailers is in fact a history of increasing the legal limit of their size. As the U.S. economy has grown, the need for ever higher capacity trailers has been rising so that the legal limit increased from 35 to 40, 45, 48, 53 up to 58-foot long and 102 inch wide trailers. The instant changes worry designers of intermodal flatcars and spine cars that ended up putting three 58' trailers on two cars. Containers According to the ISO definition, a freight container is a piece of transport equipment that meets the following requirements: It is of permanent character and strong enough for repeated use. It is specifically designed for transporting goods by more than one mode without intermediate reloading. It has fittings that

permit easy handling when being transferred from one mode to another. It is designed for easy filling and emptying. It has an internal volume greater than one cubic meter. Containers that are used for freight transportation in the U.S. are basically divided into two groups: ISO standard containers and domestic containers. The difference between the two groups is mainly in size; ISO corner castings are common for both types. ISO Standard Containers ISO Series 1 standard containers are intended for intercontinental use and consequently must be built to fulfill the requirements of shipboard service. ISO containers are 8, 8, 9 or 9 foot high, 8 or 8 foot wide and come in variety of lengths ranging from 10' to 45'. The most common containers in international transportation are 20 and 40 foot long, 8 foot high and 8-foot wide dry vans. Containers are equipped with standardized corner castings that serve as securement and lifting points. ISO containers exist in over 20 types that can be divided into two groups general cargo containers and specific cargo containers. General cargo containers are not intended to carry some particular category of cargo. Specific cargo containers are those intended for cargos that require temperature control, for liquids and gases, for dry bulk solids and for items such as cars or livestock. From a physical appearance perspective, containers can be broken into three general types: boxes, platforms, and tanks. The typical sample of box container is dry van, some box containers are ventilated, refrigerated or have an open top. Platforms or flatracks are intended to carry odd-shaped cargo that does not fit in a box container or is difficult to load on other types of container. Tanks are large barrels enclosed within a steel framework and carry liquids or dry bulk solids. Since these substances are usually very heavy, tank containers are not produced in lengths over 20'. Domestic Containers Containers built exclusively for domestic use in the U.S. do not have to follow such strict rules regarding size since they are intended for rail and highway

service only. Domestic containers have standard ISO corner castings located at the 40-foot positions to permit stacking with 40-foot ISO containers. The practice of seamless stacking of domestic and ISO containers is especially useful in doublestack cars and in terminal operations in terminals. The most commonly used domestic containers are 45, 48, and 53-foot high cube, 102 inch wide (i.e., wider than the ISO standard) and 9 foot high dry vans. The 45-foot domestic containers are often accepted for international transportation, even though they are higher and wider than the standard ISO 45-foot container. Chassis The chassis is nothing more than a trailer designed to haul containers. It consists of skeletal frame platform with twistlocks that secure the container in place, a boogie assembly, landing gear, kingpin, and the necessary electrical and pneumatic equipment. Chassis for containers can be extendable so that they can be employed to haul containers of different lengths. Although the main advantage of containers over piggybacks is that containers can be carried on doublestack railcars, a container can also be transported on a chassis that rides piggyback on a train. Railcars The two largest steamship carriers (i.e., American President Companies and Maersk Sealand) and Trailer Train own majority of intermodal railcars. Railroads themselves own only a small amount of intermodal cars. Carless Technology Carless technology combines the two transportation modes of rail and truck into one. It seeks to maximize rail haul efficiency by eliminating the railcar itself. This approach yields additional benefits in the ease of loading and unloading, and in minimizing the need for facility investments. There are two commonly used systems in carless technology: RoadRailer and RailTrailer. Both of them are using strengthened trailers that can switch modes between highway and railroad, and eliminate the need for a flatcar or skeleton car while moving by rail. RoadRailer is the older of the two concepts and emerged in 1981. The Mark IV

trailer had a pair railroad wheels permanently attached between the two axles with highway wheels. The railroad wheels were suspendable by a mechanical system and ere attached to the trailer at all times. The disadvantages of the Mark IV system are high tare weight, high technological complexity, and tendency to derailment. Trailers of the next generation of RoadRailer, Mark V, do not carry their railroad wheels at all times. The detachable two-axle rail boogies are equipped with brackets to hold the trailer body and a rail braking system. This approach decreases the capital cost (the boogie can be used for another haul while the trailer is in highway mode) and increases the possible weight of payload. The other carless concept, RailTrailer, is similar to RoadRailer. Only the railroad boogies hold trailers in corners and are compatible with containers that have ISO corner castings and fulfill the minimum strength requirements. Organization of trains with both RoadRailers and RailTrailers is possible; nonetheless, it requires special type of railroad boogie. Switching between modes is very similar in both carless systems. After the trailer is located at its place above rails, a pneumatic air-ride system elevates the trailer and the rail boogies are brought to the trailers ends. Then the trailer is lowered so that it sits on the railroad boogies and its rubber wheels are drawn away from the rails. The whole procedure takes less than ten minutes. One of the biggest advantages of carless technology is the ease of terminal operations. No special equipment is needed to switch to rail mode and back to highway mode. There is no need for conventional switching because trailers can be moved by tractor to their place. The economies of terminal operations make RoadRailer and RailTrailer able to compete with motor carriers at distances as short as 200-300 miles. INTERMODAL DIRECTION FOR THE FUTURE: FASTER, BETTER, SMARTER, AND MORE PROFITABLE Customers of global supply chains in the future will continue to demand faster supply chain delivery of their commodities and products. Speedor total transit time through the supply chainwill continue to be a necessary factor for intermodal transport.

Customers will demand better execution of the supply chains, represented by quality and reliability. Customers will also have more access to information through the use of information communications capabilities only dreamt of in the past, and that information will drive higher expectations of performance as well as provide the foundation for alternatives, options, and continued change. Finally, customers and supply chain operators will want all of this done more cheaply, or in a more appropriate perspective, more profitably. Therefore, evaluating the life-cycle cost of prospective technology applications is essential. Intermodalism will be a significant and critical factor in the success of hypercompetition among supply chains of the future. Its more significant role in global supply chains will require an understanding of supply chain management, the needs and requirements of the marketplace, the capabilities and advances in information and communications technology, and the continuing challenges and constraints on transport infrastructure. It might be argued that the future driver of the intermodal process and options in supply chains needs to come from the demand or supply chain side of the equation rather than the traditional supply or mode-carrier side. But from wherever the future impetus for intermodalism comes, additional insights need to be gained through measuring it in its broader definition and not just the historical containerized context. An increased awareness of the scope and magnitude of broadly defined and measured intermodalism will heighten the need for intermodal education and training for those being asked to manage and execute both new intermodal technologies and information communications systems and the increasingly constrained infrastructure of intermodalism.

Limitations Findings Recommendations

Conclusion Intermodal Freight and Fleet Management Operation is the future of the transportation that promises a seamless intermodal transportation system that is efficient, safe, flexible, and environmentally sound, and meets the needs of the travelers and industry alike. There are several important reasons why governments need to be actively involved in advanced Intermodal freight transportation. The availability of quality-focused, cost-effective intermodal freight transportation services can affect how well the firms in a region can compete economically in the battlefield of regional and global economic competition. Thus, jobs, incomes, and growth all depend significantly on logistics capabilities. Governments have an interest in promoting inter-modal freight transportation expertise: in stimulating the development of up to date interrnodal freight transportation services providers; and in reducing regulatory and other barriers to the ability of providers to offer attractive services. Intermodal freight transportation services and the fees paid by service providers for facilities, transportation, and information services, and taxes can be important sources of revenues to governments. Actions in the intermodal freight transportation domain can have important environmental, health, and safety consequences and these are important concerns of governments. Often, governments are the major providers of transportation infrastructure that supports the provision of inter-modal freight transportation services, such as air and ocean cargo facilities, intermodal transfer terminals, and others. For some modes, the levels of congestion and delays in transportation and terminals are an important issue. Therefore, governments are actively involved in planning, investment, pricing, and/or operational decisions that influence the provision of capacity and the pricing and time dependent availability of facilities and services. Often, the logistics services sector is a sector with many small and medium-sized enterprises. In many countries, governments are concerned with viability and survival of such enterprises, and want to ensure this survival through providing awareness programs, educational and resource-expansion export.

Although freight transportation has benefited from improvements in information and equipment technologies over the past years, the progress linking the evolving information and transportation systems has been slowed by lack of network infrastructure, and lack of expertise in some sectors that participate in the freight transportation system.

Recent Trends TRENDS IN INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORT Transportation services, not only in the intermodal industry, tend to be complex and very customer-sensitive. Intermodal transportation deals with large volumes of information that is impossible to manage in paper form. Therefore one of the key factors for success in intermodal transportation is the use of information technology to collect the information and process it. The first computer-based information systems were developed in the 1980s, long time before the emergence of the Internet, and served the rail industry. The key networks necessary for the operation of intermodal transportation are even today in most cases separated from Internet infrastructure, to keep it independent and safe. RailIntermodal rail technology has changed rapidly especially in the areas of automation and flat car equipment. Most advances have been incremental changes to existing technologies. Articulated cars represent the type of technology. Articulated cars are light in weight, have lower purchase prices, are less expensive to maintain, and prevent cargo damage by eliminating most slack action and roll dynamics between cars. The government and rail industry are developing Intelligent railroad System that will incorporate evolving information into train operations and maintenance. Some of them are client service system and a train control and dispatching system. Other developments are : Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS), Positive Train Control(PTC), electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, automatic equipment identification tags for all equipments,

way side equipment sensors to identify defects on passing trains, and intelligent grade crossings to reduce grade crossing collisions. Motor Carriers Most of the advances in this mode are in fuel efficient factors and lighter and stronger trailers with increased cargo capacity. Also the commercial vehicle operations(CVO) initiative, which is a part of the intelligent Transportation system is expected to improve administrative efficiency, highway data collection, safety and reduce operating costs to commercial vehicles. AviationAviation continues to expand its role in intermodal freight transportation in shipment of high value and time sensitive cargo. Large aircrafts can accommodate 20 and 40 foot international organization for standardization (ISO) ocean containers. However until lighter and stronger sea air containers are developed and used, the additional handling cost of transferring cargos between the heavier ISO ocean containers and the ISO air containers will continue to be more costly than all ocean service. To accommodate this growth and enhance safety the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is engaged in a comprehensive program to modernize Air Traffic (ATS) Control System. This includes replacing radar surveillance systems, modernizing voice communication systems introducing enhanced automated navigation aids, data links, and improved weather systems. Water ways Todays containers vessels have 50 % more cargo capacity than those of 1975 and some are triple the size. An 8000 twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) ship was developed in 1997 and 13000 TEU ship design is currently being studied. When these ships were produced in 1970s, they required many waterways and ports to be deepened to accommodate the increasing drafts of these vessels Equipment Containers, also known as intermodal containers or as ISO containers because the dimensions have been defined by the ISO, are the main type of equipment used in intermodal transport, particularly when one of the modes of transportation is by ship. Containers are eight feet (2438 mm) wide by eight feet (2438 mm) high. Since

introduction, there have been moves to adopt other heights, such as eight feet six inches (2591 mm), nine feet six inches (2896 mm) and ten feet six inches (3200 mm). The most common lengths are 20 feet (6096 mm) nominal or 19 feet - 10 in (6058 mm) actual, 40 feet (12192 mm), 48 feet (14630 mm) and 53 feet (16154 mm), although other lengths exist. They are made out of steel and can be stacked on top of each other (a popular term for a two-high stack is "double stack"). On ships they are typically stacked up to seven units high. They can be carried by truck, rail, container ship, or aeroplane. When carried by rail, containers can be loaded on flatcars or in container well cars. In India, stricter railway height restrictions (smaller loading gauge and structure gauge) prohibit containers from being stacked two high, and containers are hauled one high either on standard flatcars or other railroad cars. Open-topped versions covered by a fabric curtain are used to transport larger loads. A container called a tanktainer, consisting of a tank fitted inside a standard container frame, allows liquids to be carried. Refrigerated containers are used for perishables. There is also the swap body, which is typically used for road and rail transport, as they are built too lightly to be stacked. They have folding legs under their frame so that they can be moved between trucks without using a crane. INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF INTERMEDIARIES Whilethe intermodal industry has experienced strong growth over much of the last two decades, the industry has had a number of service problems that may prevent predicted growth from occurring. Many of these service problems relate to the structure of the intermodal industry and conflict between the intermediaries. This conflict has prevented the close coordination and communications needed to optimize efficiency within the industry. The industry is structured around each individual mode of transportation and because of intermodal transfers often require the coordination of government entities and multiple private entities, physical and organizational bottlenecks sometimes develop the affect the performance of the entire freight system. Conflict between the intermediaries, who in the past have functioned predominantly within their own respective mode, has impeded the formation of mechanisms to coordinate access to intermodal equipment, facilities, and the flow of information between modes during intermodal operations

TECHNOLOGIES IN INTERMODAL FREIGHT MANAGEMENT Developments in advanced technologies have been the greatest factor which influenced changes in intermodal freight transportation. Some of the advanced technologies which have thoroughly transformed the nations transportation system are information technology used in freight transportation system. Information TechnologyInformation technology plays an important part in intermodal freight transport. IT has enabled its users to plan, track audit and document intermodal shipments in real time. Intermodal freight movement is increasingly become mode invisible as the ability to interconnect and interchange information among the modes is optimized. The Transportation efficiency act for the 21st century focused on maturing information technologies and their development. The Indian department of Transportation (DOT) created the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) architecture and drafting of related standards. ITS represents the application of advanced technologies involving information processing, electronics and communications, and management strategies, to improve intermodal transportation system. DOT was required to develop intermodal transportation data base (ITDB). The ITDB provides a single data mining portal from all the Bureau of transportation statistics (BTS) and DOT operating units. As companies connect, the growing use of internet and the trends in electronic commerce appear to be improving the visibility of inventory and its location within supply chains. VEHICLE AND CARGO TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES Cargo Tracking Technologies include Bar Code with Laser Read out, Magnetic Card andStrip Reader, Smart Cards, Radio Frequency Cards, Transponders and Readers. Vehicle Tracking Technologies mainly employ the use of the positional information from theGlobal Position System (GPS) which provides real-time tracking of the vehicle and cargo

Automatic Equipment Identification

Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) has replaced the labor-intensive process of registering every piece of equipment (usually at the gate of port or terminal) manually. It provides automatic, quick, reliable, and accurate evidence of containers and chassis. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a system that automatically registers equipment that is passing by it. It consists of transponder, antenna, and transmitter/reader. Transponder is a small active or passive device that is attached to the equipment to be tracked. - 41 The transponder transmits a preprogrammed ISO-compliant signal, consisting of an encoded set of characters to recognize the piece of equipment, in response to an interrogation by the transmitter/reader. The antenna picks up the signal and the reader then demodulates the data, which contains information about type of the equipment, its size, owner and other specifications. The operation range of RFID is 30 to 200 foot, depending on the type and manufacturer. Radio Determination Satellite Service (RDSS) can determine the geographical position of the equipment. The portable part of RDSS is more expensive than RFID transponders and is installed in ships, trucks and locomotives rather than on every container. In the RDSS system, an on-board receiver determines position based on information from satellites and transmits the position coordinates through a satellite to a central computer from which the information about geographical position is distributed.

Electronic Data Interchange

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) provides a computer-to-computer exchange of business information between railroads, ocean carriers, ocean carriers, trucking companies, and third parties. The information has to be entered into the system only once and is available to all involved parties. EDI makes documents available in formats standardized by ISO and ANSI so that they are readable by various computer systems. EDI is essential for all intermodal systems and must be available to all involved companies, including third parties, to work effectively. The information about a shipment is available prior to the arrival of a container or trailer to the terminal. When the drayman arrives in the terminal, all the paperwork for the haul is - 42 already prepared and the trucker is directed to an exact place by the train where the container is picked up. The draymen usually does not leave the terminal later than 15 minutes after he or she had arrived.

Use of the Internet

The role of the Internet in the intermodal industry is more or less limited to the contact with the final customer since all the professional systems are run on dedicated networks. Intermodal companies and third parties use the Internet to

promote their services and rates, advertise other services and hire personnel. Some carriers, such as the Triple Crown Services Company or Maersk Sealand, use the Internet as an interface for their customers to trace and check the status of their shipment. BETTER INTERMODAL FLEET MANAGEMENT THROUGH TRACKING AND LOGISTICS Radiolocation or Navigational Systems have emerged with well developed cellular or communication channels. This combines Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) with paging, voice and data communication to a national or regional dispatch and logistics node. ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI) EDI, systems take information from all available sources and make decisions and performs controls to maximize efficiency. EDI systems can minimize unnecessary paperwork by providing facility to perform transactions on-line.

EMERGING AND FUTURE TRENDS FOR INTERMODAL FREIGHT AND FLEET MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (ITS) Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is a system that improves transportation safety and mobility and enhances productivity through the use of advanced communications technologies. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) encompass a broad range of wireless and wireline communications-based information and electronics technologies. When integrated into the transportation system's infrastructure, and in vehicles themselves, these technologies relieve congestion, improve safety and enhance productivity. ITS is one of the major emerging Intermodal Freight and Fleet Management Operations technology. ITS offers the following benefits: Increase of operational efficiency and capacity of the transportation system. Enhancement of personal mobility, convenience, and comfort. Improvement of safety of the transportation system.

Reduction of energy consumption and environmental costs. Enhancement of the present and future economic productivity of individuals, organizations and the economy as a whole Vehicle information, Intermodal Freight Depot information and Intermodal Freight Shipper Information are continuously available with the Fleet and Freight Management System (ITS). Driver can request data and status information from the Fleet and Freight Management System (ITS). Automated updates about traffic, weather, or schedule updates are provided via messages or alerts to the driver from the Fleet and Freight Management System (ITS). INTERMODAL CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES Along with the development of the transportation systems there is also a need for the standardization and modularization of container design. Not only is the container sizes increasing but also the design is evolving to make containers stackable, roll able and solid able onto freight carriers like ships, trucks, etc. Recent innovations have included the use of advanced materials for higher capacity, lower weight, better performance and life. Other innovations have incorporated various electronic and mechanical design changes for transportation of different kinds of goods. Examples: Refrigeration for perishable goods, thermal protection, climate control, etc. Since 1984, a mechanism for intermodal shipping known as double-stack rail transport has become increasingly common. Rising to the rate of nearly 70% of intermodal shipments, it transports more than one million containers per year. The double-stack rail cars unique design also significantly reduced damage in transit, and provided greater cargo security by cradling the lower containers so their doors cannot be opened. And a succession of large, new domestic container sizes was introduced to further enhance shipping productivity for customers. As early as the 1970s, doublestack designs and equipment were introduced, but the cars were heavy and uneconomical to operate. A common standard for containers would help ports to have standardized equipment resulting in streamline of the transfer processes. It exploits technologies like tracking, control and communication to form integrated carriers like FedEx. ADVANCED CONTROL AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Technologies have been integrated with real-time control and logistics decision-making software; this approach is becoming widely adopted by trucking firms and distribution service providers. This concept has produced successful organizations like Fed-Ex, DHL, UPS etc. Technology-based improvements such as real-time grade crossing supervision and warning systems, supervisory control distributed networks; solid-state interlocking controls will enhance railroad safety operational efficiency.

Challenges in Intermodal Transportation

The effectiveness of intermodal transportation systems is very critical to their functioning. Even though intermodal transportation brings benefits in resource conservation, decreased fuel consumption or in the form of improved truck driver life quality, there exist many issues, both managerial and constructional, that employ engineers in order to keep the system alive.

Effective Haul Distance

Interchange between transportation modes is an essential part of the container or trailer intermodal transportation. The amount of time the cargo spends in terminals makes it difficult for intermodal transportation to compete against motor carriers in short haul markets. Fig. 7 Transit Time: Trucking vs. Intermodal - 44 Long haul intermodal trains are, on the other side, at an advantage over motor carriers because the trains can go virtually non-stop, whereas truckers cannot exceed their daily limits regarding the amount of hours they can drive. The effective distance of intermodal transportation is usually considered to be 500 miles and with the exception of RoadRailers is rarely shorter than 400 miles. See graph in Fig. 7 for graphical interpretation of minimum door-to-door delivery times. Some technologies, such as RoadRailer or Iron Highway, are tough competitors for truckers. Making shipping freight intermodally as simple as 1, 2, 3 for their customers and decreasing transfer delays to an absolute minimum make it possible for intermodal companies to succeed in the competition. However, the

extent to which these technologies have developed over the last twenty or ten years, respectively, is not as great as expected.

Railroad Clearances

The highly efficient doublestack service, which is the base for U.S. intermodal system, brings problems with overhead clearances. This problem is especially present in the eastern states, where the terrain is broken and railroad tracks have
grown into the highly populated landscape with numerous underpasses, tunnels and bridges. Some routes even do not allow operation of regular TOFC service and trailers must be loaded onto suspended cars in order to pass under the 19th century clearances. Some routes of intermodal doublestack service have marginal limitations. For example, only two 8' high containers may be permitted on that route and combinations of 8', 9' and 9' are prohibited. The biggest requirements have 53-foot long 102-inch wide and 9-foot high domestic containers placed on top. - 45 The costs of improving clearances are extremely high. However, they are critical for intermodal operations on routes and are often funded jointly by ocean carriers, railroads and ports.

Accessibility of Terminals
The weak part of the U.S. intermodal transportation system is often accessibility of intermodal terminals. Terminals that often have huge capacity are poorly linked to the highway system and heavy truck traffic often interferes with commuter traffic on highways in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles or Chicago. The solution to this problem is to reduce the unnecessary truck trips by bringing railroad terminals to ports and by using one terminal for more than one railroad carrier. Such solutions are, however, very expensive and often are not supported by the involved transportation companies.