The Indian Railways faces the significant challenge of nearly doubling its coal transportation capacity from the current 660 million tonnes (MTs) per annum to 1,200 MTs by 2030 to meet the country's growing energy demand. A report by the Traffic, Transportation and Business Research (TT&BR) Unit of the railways emphasizes the need for this capacity expansion. Additionally, the report recommends the construction of the proposed East-West and East Coast Dedicated Freight corridors (DFCs) to be prioritized to ensure the smooth flow of coal to thermal plants. The study anticipates that India's energy requirement will increase to approximately 3,000 billion units (BU) by 2030. A shortfall in meeting this demand could have severe consequences for various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and transport. While the National Rail Plan initially projected a coal requirement of 1,547 MTs by 2030, the new report estimates that coal consumption will increase to 1,853 MTs, considering high economic growth rates and per capita energy consumption. At present, nearly 75% of India's energy is derived from thermal sources, and railways transport roughly 65% of the coal needed for power generation. The study suggests that by 2030, this ratio may shift to 65% thermal and 35% non-thermal, mainly due to the lower plant load factor of renewable sources compared to thermal sources. Given that coal holds a significant share of 48% in the railways commodity basket, efficient transportation of coal is vital for India's economic growth. The study, recognizing this critical role, has been conducted to determine the expected volume of coal transportation by rail by 2030. It takes into account India's GDP growth compared to other nations and projects a GDP size of $7.2 trillion for the country by 2030.