2.2 Growth Rate of Product Transportation by Railway Mode
Railway freight transportation has been increased from approximately 7.8 million tons in 1995 to 12 million tons over the 10-year period, as shown in Fig. 3. According to statistics, three major types of commodities being transported by rail include petroleum product (including LPG), bag/bulk cement and container. In 2005, these merchandises shared approximately 87% of the total rail freight volume. Over the past decade, the bulky products gradually lost their freight shares. Meanwhile, the demand of container continued to increase. Fig. 4 shows rail freight volume classified by category of commodities taken on rail during 2000–2005.