• Formulating of strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase the modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%.
• Reducing transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph.
• Under the plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as 100% electrification, multi-tracking of congested routes, upgradation of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.
• Identifying new Dedicated Freight Corridors and High Speed Rail Corridors.
• Assessing rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
• Assessing locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
• Assessing the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
• Sustained involvement of the private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development/operations of track infrastructure etc.
• Complete executable gauge conversion projects.
• 58 Super critical Projects and 68 Critical Projects have been identified for completion by 2024.

In the historical evolution of the Railways in India, the emphasis has largely been on passengers and not on freight. The NRP seeks to rectify this bias, and develop a capacity that will cater to demand in 2050. In comparison with the earlier Committee reports that mainly concentrated on policy issues and operational constraints, the NRP includes a detailed analysis of the existing network as well. Furthermore, the NRP seeks to make decisions around new tracks and investments more objective, which were previously often driven by political considerations and were ad hoc in nature.