Exploring Aspects of Sustainable Rail Infrastructure Development Process and Alternative TOD Financing

Transport infrastructure is a catalyst of economic growth and development as it creates better access to markets and ideas. The history of major developed geographies such as Japan, Western Europe and the United States shows that the period of construction of transport infrastructure like railroads harmonize with the period of rapid economic growth. Particularly in Japan where this economic growth further led to development of high-speed rails. Literatures have shown that high-speed rails have significant impact in the serving regions in terms of social, economic and environmental aspects, the three pillars of sustainability. India having more than a billion populations has a large and diverse, but energy inefficient transport network and thereby has a large potential to invest in energy efficient transport infrastructure. Sustainable transport systems are key drivers of sustainable development as identified in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Ministry of Railways in India has identified various freight, high-speed corridors besides multitude of metro projects in the National Rail Plan 2021 as an effort towards modernization. This study focuses on the alternatives to rail infrastructure development processes to lead towards sustainable development with focus on spatial planning. The study utilizes temporal statistical and spatial remote sensing data towards comparing global rail infrastructure development with lessons for rail infrastructure development in India which will be useful for development of not only socio-economically viable but sustainable transport systems and further, a discussion is done on the alternative TOD financing approaches for development of rail infrastructure in India.